Unlimited Pirating Potential
by GammaTron
Summary: For centuries, perhaps even millenia, they were sealed away. For so long, no one knew of them, until they were finally released. Now let's just see how they'll handle a rubber man, a long-nosed lying sniper, a navigating thief, a perpetually lost swordsman, a lovestruck chef, a childish human-reindeer, and so much more.
1. The Awakening of Unlimited Potential

**A while, I was looking around at the crossover section for One Piece (I just got the Day One Edition of the new One Piece game for the 3DS and I love it!) and noticed a distinct lack of Megaman stories. There should be more of them, dammit! Anyways, I don't own anything. They belong to their respective writers and creators. Though if I owned them, I'd finish the canceled Megaman Legends 3 and have more Mega Man Star Force games than just the three! If I also owned Minecraft (owned by its respected owners), I'd cover Foxy the Pirate's ship with Creepers and have them blow it up with him on it.**

* * *

"Is what you desire...recorded there?"

 **Nico Robin** , known as the **Devil's Child** and **Ms. All-Sunday** , ignored King **Nefertari Cobra** as she gazed upon the large, black, imposing cube before her, a single side written with a strange language. While the whole world may seem to be unable to look at them as more than mere scribbles, to her, Robin could read them fluently. Yet...This one was amazing, stunning. A tale of a man who dreamed of a world where humans and those different were on equal grounds. He created his very own _children_ and gave them true life. Yet, hardship followed. A rival, wanting domination over all, began to use other creations the man made in plans to dominate. The middle of the three children of the first man, since the eldest had ended up missing, asked to be modified to combat the other man and his forces to try and protect them all. As she read the words inscribed upon the stone, she was unaware she was actually reading it aloud in her depth reading. Battles against beings that could create blades of elements, unleash lightning in ways one would never expect it to perform, even an alien being of grand power! And all without even devouring an **Akuma no Mi** and losing the ability to swim! Even if this stone was only saying a small summary of just two tales of heroics, perhaps the last ones known, and the beginning of hero, she felt it was incomplete. As if...it wasn't what she was truly looking for. Slowly, the battles began to fade out and the man, finally entering his final years, began to build one last son. The youngest of them all, it would take thirty years for him to be complete-thirty years the man did not have.

"'To you, reader of my special code, this is the only one of the stones I was able to use my robotic assistants to hide that I and my daughter made to tell of the years before _they_ began to take over the world. Blues...Rock...My two eldest sons are gone now, but I leave to you in this stone they key to the youngest two of my children who still live. My daughter does not know it, but while she rested, I placed her in the only available pod connected to my youngest son,'" Robin read, "'The two within this container are living beings much like you are, but also different. My only daughter...she told me she wanted to be a nurse before he began to try to perform world domination. If you could, find it in your heart to try to help her dream flourish. As for my youngest, I left all that I could to him. His codename is **Pluton** , but his true name is **X**. "X" is the first of a new generation of Robots which contain an innovative new feature-The ability to _think_ , _feel_ , and make his _own decisions_. His sister is also being given these new features while she rests with X. However, this ability could be very dangerous. If "X" or **Roll** were to break the first rule of Robotics-"A robot must never kill a human being"-the results may be disastrous, and I fear that no force on Earth could stop "X." Roll, possibly, but not "X." Approximately 30 years will be required before we can safely confirm their reliabilities with the removal of the need to obey the three laws from their systems. Unfortunately, I will not live to see that day, nor do I have anyone to carry on my work. Therefore, I have decided to seal them in these capsules behind this new alloy I created just for this containment, which will test their internal systems until their reliability has been confirmed. Please do not disturb the capsules until that time. If that time has since passed, then touch the left side of this container and "X" and Roll will awake. "X" possesses great risks as well as great possibilities. I can only hope for the best. This is **Thomas D. Light** , September 18th, 20XX.'"

"Thirty years? It's been considerable longer than that," Cobra whispered, _'Does...Does that mean it's safe to open it, or…?'_

"A fitting place for a state secret," a gruff voice noted, making the two turn their heads to see the man behind everything going on above them enter, "You wouldn't be able to find this place without knowing where to look…" he walked up to beside Robin, "...So is this a **Poneglyph** , Nico Robin?"

"...You arrived quickly, Sir **Crocodile** ," Robin noted as Cobra watched them, the arms sprouting from his own keeping them pinned behind his back.

"It's rather...Hmm, I'm not quite sure how to describe it…" Crocodile noted, "So can you decipher it?"

"...Yes."

"Then read it aloud. Read this Poneglyph…" Crocodile grinned darkly.

 _'Oh no…! If he finds out about...'_ Cobra began to think before Robin began to speak.

"'Alabasta is conquered by Kahira, in year 239 of the Heaven's Calendar...'"

 _'Wh...Why is she not telling the true history in it?'_ Cobra thought in shock as Crocodile stopped her, demanding information on Pluton.

"That is not recorded here. There is only history written here," Robin informed in a half-lie.

"What?" Crocodile growled.

"The name 'Pluton' isn't mentioned in this passage even once."

"...I see...What a shame."

"!?"

"You were a most capable partner, but I'll be killing you here," Crocodile informed gravely.

"!-!-!? Wha!?" Robin's eyes widened as Cobra's eyes did the same.

"The arrangement made between us 4 years ago has now come to an end. Back then, you told me this…"If you lead me to the Poneglyph, then I will give you information on the secret weapon." The work you've done for Baroque Works these past four years," Crocodile began to assume a fighting stance, "Were invaluable thanks to you intellect and leadership. For me, that was enough. You were a highly useful woman. However! At the very end, you broke your promise to me…!" Robin barely avoided the swipe aimed at her, her hat taking the golden hook aimed for her head, "The Poneglyph of this country failed to give me any leads on Pluton!"

* * *

"Zzz….Zzz…" a young boy, around seventeen, snored on the grass outside the royal tomb, injuries all over his body, "Zzz…" the ground began to rumble, awakening the boy, "Huh? Hm!?" he got up with a yawn, "Ah, that was a nice nap." he started to come out his his sleepy state, "...That's right. My body couldn't move all of a sudden...And I couldn't help but take a nap…And...Now that I'm all better..." he bopped his fist into his palm, "Ah-" instantly getting up fully, he began to charge in anger, "Crocodiilee! I'm gonna kick your ass!" he dashed right past a revealed hidden stairway before going back to it and glaring at it with strained eyes, "That hole...It's Croc-like."

* * *

"Water?" Crocodile asked as he looked down at Robin's form, blood coming out of the wound he delivered to her stomach area with his hook, "I will forgive everything, Nico Robin. Because, you see...I never trusted anyone, from the very beginning…" he continued as he walked away from Robin, "I've already verified Pluton's existence from Cobra's reaction earlier. I can find it myself without relying on this cryptic block of junk! It's all a matter of time once I take over this country…!" his eyes widened as he felt the area start to rumble, "What's going on?! It's still too soon for the palace square bombing…" glancing over at the Poneglyph, his eyes settled upon the glowing writing as Cobra rested against the side of it, "Ah, it must be you...What did you do…!?"

"Nothing much, really...This Poneglyph...contains one final hope…from the Void Century..." Cobra informed, _'X...Please...If you truly are the legendary Pluton...If you truly were made to_ protect _and not destroy like the World Government believes...Then help us in our darkest hour!'_

The cube began to glow brighter before it seemed to start folding in on itself. Crocodile watched as the Poneglyph finished collapsing to expose a pair of strange glowing containers, back to back. Within both containers, a lone figure rested within each, suspended in a glowing liquid. One appeared to be a young girl, no older than eighteen. Her long, blond hair was done in a ponytail with a green bow. Her red dress went down to just above her knees, letting what was under her knees be covered in red boots with white soles and buttons on the sides. The top of the red dress had a white piece connected to it with two black/dark green orbs on the front. Her arms were covered in black sleeves with white cuffs on her wrists. The other figure, despite being unknown to him, made a small sense of something well up in Crocodile. The man seemed to be around the same age as the girl, possibly between fourteen and fifteen years of age, and seemed to have a decent build. He wore a black bodysuit with a set of white lines going up from the middle of the front of his legs upwards on the middle of his body. He wore the strangest armor he had ever seen. Blue armor in various shades adorned the lower arms, shoulders, torso, head, and lower legs. Ruby jewels covered the elbows and kneecaps with a gold border on the tops and a white border on the bottoms. White trimming adorned the wrists on the armor with a pair of white gloves covering the hands while white armor covered the area that turned from his legs to his feet with gold soldes on his boots. White detailing on the torso armor seemed to make an 'X' in it with the white line on his bodysuit going into the bottom of the letter with a white and cyan belt around his waist, a pentagon emerald trimmed in gold acting as the buckle. His helmet was a series of blue shades with a pair of black rings trimmed in gold on the sides and a ruby gem directly on the helmet's forehead area. Sirens blared out of the two containers as the bottoms opened, exposing vents that instantly released the glowing liquid, revealed to be just plain water. Crocodile put his hand on the ground and the water instantly dried up. Hissing came from the pods before the tops opened and let the clear glass slid down, letting the two fall over.

"What? _Children_ were in that?" Crocodile raised a brow before a wall nearby exploded, revealing the injured teen, panting hard as he glared at Crocodile, "You again, Strawhat Luffy?"

"I've cornered you now, Croc…!" the teen declared.

"How...Are you still alive?" Crocodile demanded, "Why must you come after me again and again no matter how many times I kill you?" he started to tremble in anger, "Well, STRAW HAT!?"

"How did he…" Cobra pondered before noticing Robin's small movements.

"Mugiwara…" Robin whispered.

"HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO KILL YOU BEFORE YOU'RE SATISFIED!?" Crocodile roared out.

"You still haven't returned...the thing you've stolen…!" Luffy scowled.

"'The thing I stole…?'" Crocodile repeated with a dry chuckle, "Money? Fame…? _Trust_ …? Is it _life_?" he began to chuckle madly, "Or perhaps the rain!? Kuhahaha! What is it you want back? I've stolen so many things, you see."

"The Country!" Luffy declared, none of them aware of the two figures starting to open their eyes, the girl's a calming ocean blue and the boy's a fierce, serene emerald.

"Country!?" Crocodile repeated, "You're an odd fellow...I'm only about to steal the country now...By becoming its new king…!"

"No, when I came here, it was already stolen!" Luffy argued, none of them seeing how the blue-wearing teen was watching the interaction as the girl's eyes closed once more, "Her country was nowhere to be found!" his entire body trembled, unaware of his irises turning into dots with rings in them, "If this were really her country…" he rushed right at Crocodile in rage, "THEN SHE SHOULD BE ABLE TO SMILE A LOT MORE!"

The blue armored teen's eyes widened as he witnessed it. The one called 'Strawhat Luffy' had struck the man, apparently named 'Croc' by 'Strawhat Luffy,' with a swiping kick...with the leg stretching like rubber. ...What kind of robot was he? The kick impacted with 'Croc's' face and sent him rocketing backwards.

 _'What the...How can he kick me without any water…?'_ Crocodile thought as he began to get up.

"CROCODIIIILEE!" Luffy roared as he stretched his right arm back as he charged at 'Croc.'

"Wai-" Crocodile's sentence was cut off by the punch that impacted with the center of his face, sending him slamming into a wall and breaking it apart, "Ku...Ha...It...It can't be…" of the two from the capsules, the male's eyes widened as he saw that Luffy was _bleeding_ , "You used your blood!?"

"Blood works just as well as clumping up your sand, right!?" Luffy calmly asked as he held up his bleeding right fist.

"First Rainbase, and then the Royal Palace," Crocodile laughed madly, "And now… this underground temple!" Luffy and the male just looked on at him, wondering just what he was trying to say here. "You should be rewarded for your insistence on challenging me," Crocodile went on, "Even though I put you through hell twice now, you keep coming back."

Luffy went for another attack, forcing Crocodile to jump out of the way so that Luffy went slamming through the wall this time. As Cobra and the male watched, Crocodile reached for his hook and pulled off the golden part to reveal that there was another hook just underneath it. Only this one seemed to be made of iron and was embedded with large holes with a slight pink haze drifting from it.

 _'Poison?'_ the male thought.

"You're a pirate, Straw Hat!" Crocodile declared and Luffy's eyes widen a little in confusion when he saw that, "You certainly proven that with your determination to defeat me no matter the cost." He stood back up. "And I'll admit that you've become an annoying persistent opponent during our three encounters!"

Luffy stared at the hook before he asked, "Alright. What's that?"

"A poisonous hook," Crocodile stated as he held up his weapon and let the golden hook covering fall.

"I see," Luffy noted simply, clearly not caring.

"You seem to be a confident pirate I suppose, so surely you must understand…" Crocodile said, frowning heavily, "That a duel between pirates is always about two people fighting for survival. And when that's the case, there's no such thing as playing dirty!"

Luffy turned into a battle position as the male began to slowly stand up, not once looking away from them.

"When the explosion happens in the square, this place will most likely crumble to dust!" Crocodile informed them, making the male's eyes widen, "This will be our final battle! Let's settle this once and for all!"

"A...bomb?" the two fighters turned to see the male standing up.

"Ah! You're the boy from the capsule over there," Crocodile noted.

"What bomb?" the male asked.

"Croc here put a bomb somewhere in the city near the plaza!" Luffy informed as he pointed at Crocodile, "If it goes off, a lot of people will die!"

"...Understood," the male nodded before looking at the other three on the ground and then at Cobra, "Can you stand?"

"..." Cobra slowly got up and nodded.

"Help her," he motioned to the girl from the other capsule, "Once we're out, I'll start looking for the bomb."

"Thanks!" Luffy grinned.

"Oh no you don't!" Crocodile growled as his left arm all the way up to the gold part of it turned to sand, "I won't let you!"

The male moved to the side and the shot hook zipped past him. Crocodile retracted the sand-made limb and the golden hook as the male picked up Robin. Looking at Cobra, the male nodded before they began to run out of the area and up the stairs. Once they were gone, the two below were immediately at each other's throats, no longer caring what happened to themselves and focusing only on beating the other.

"My boy...Are you the one...called 'X' by the writing?" Cobra asked as they made their way out.

"...Yes...The last words I remember before going to sleep until just a few minutes ago were 'Do well in the future, my son, **Hikari D. X** ,'" the male informed.

"A…Your middle name is 'D?'"

X nodded. He wasn't getting it. Why did he seem so surprised at his middle name? A soft moan reached his ultra-sensitive voice recognition system. Looking down, Cobra noticed the girl in his arms was starting to awake just as they got outside. Cobra gently put her down along with X putting Robin down. Slowly, the blond-haired girl's eyes began to slide open, the unfocused misty-blue turning into a soft sapphire/jade blend.

"P...Papa…" the girl mumbled out as she began to sit up before she stopped and ran the palm on her right hand on the ground, "...Why is there grass in the lab?"

"This isn't a lab," X informed, "It's a tomb of sorts, judging by the detailing, the hieroglyphics, and structure."

"?!" the girl gasped before turning to look up at X, "Ek...X?!" she hopped up and looked at him in shock, "Wh...Why are you out of your capsule?! You're not done with...with…" she glanced around before gawking, "WHERE ARE WE!-!-!-!?"

"You've...both been resting for...for well over thirty years," Cobra informed, "More than that...It's possibly been around a good sixteen hundred (1600) years since you've been sealed away during the **Void Century**."

"Void Century?" the girl repeated slowly before she collapsed to her knees, "Nooooooo...No no no no no no noooooooo…" she bent down, putting her hands on the grass as she started trembling, "No no no no no no no no! NOOOOOOOOOO!-!-!-!"

X moved a step back at the scream she released, trying to stop the ringing that developed in his ears. Cobra gently held the sobbing girl close. He had some experience with crying girls around her physical age considering his status as a father of a girl around that age.

"It...He said he wouldn't...He promised me…!" she choked out, "Why...? Why did you break your promise to let me stay with you, Papa?!"

"...He had something for you to do," Cobra gently spoke, doing his best to think, "From what Nico Robin over there read on the Poneglyph written by Thomas Light, I think he wanted you to stay by your younger brother, X, and help him in life as best as possible."

The girl continued her sobs, Cobra unsure if she heard him or not. Looking up at X, he nodded to him. X nodded back before running off. He may not know the man, but he could tell that he would make sure his 'sister' was okay. He had to locate the bomb before it went off and he didn't have a clue when it would go off.

* * *

"Look! It's **Roronoa Zoro**!"

X skidded to a halt at that shout. Looking past a corner, he saw the strange sight of an injured man in dark-green pants, black boots, a green sash around his waist with three swords in it, a white shirt, a green bandana on his left bicep, three earrings in his left ear, and green hair. Before the man was a group of soldiers from what he could assume by the white uniforms with blue detailing slightly hidden beneath cloaks to prevent sunstroke.

"Damn it, even the **Marines** are here...I haven't got any time to waste…!" the man growled as he began to pull one of the blades out.

"What're you doing here!?" one of the Marines demanded.

"Just where do you think you are!?" a pudgy one added.

"That's what I should be asking you," the man, 'Zoro' X assumed, raised a brow.

"Go back to that corner and turn north to get to the palace square!"

"Turn back and head right! You're going the wrong way!"

"What're you, an idiot?!" a third demanded.

X raised a brow as Zoro gawked at them. In a matter of seconds, Zoro was running off. X was quick in pursuit, surprising the Marines.

"Who was that?!"

"Was he a member of Baroque Works?!"

"Crap! He's gonna try to stop Zoro!"

* * *

Zoro looked over his shoulder to see X had caught up easily, "Are you looking for the bomb as well?"

"Yes," X nodded, "You are 'Roronoa Zoro,' correct?"

"Yeah."

"...Hikari D. X," the blue-armored warrior informed, "Turn left at the corner and we'll reach the plaza in ten-point-twenty seconds."

"Thanks," Zoro nodded as he went right...making X skid to a halt.

"Zoro! I said 'left!'" X called.

"?!" Zoro skidded to a halt and ran back towards X, "You weren't clear enough, dammit!"

X blinked twice. He wasn't? Tilting his head in thought, he nearly forgot about the bomb to contemplate just how he wasn't clear. Perhaps he wasn't loud enough?

"Come on, dammit!" Zoro barked, snapping X out of his thoughts.

"Affirmative," X nodded as he gave chase, feeling unwell as he witnessed the injured, possibly dying, men scattered about, "This...What is this?"

"A civil war, one manipulated into happening by a pirate called Crocodile," Zoro scowled as they skidded to a halt before a clock tower, facing a large all-out war.

"Is...Is this normal of humans?" X asked, shaking a bit.

"Nah. Only those who feel as if they have nothing left to lose," Zoro frowned, "And what do you mean by that? You're a human as well."

"But...I'm not a…" X began before looking up, "Does the face of a clock tower normally open?"

"Wha?" Zoro looked up to see the clock tower's clock did seem to be slightly opened, "I don't think that's normal."

"Do you suppose the bomb is up there?" X asked.

"Can't hurt to check," Zoro smirked, his hand resting on the white blade of his three swords.

The two quickly ran up the stairs, X keeping ahead of Zoro. The swordsman narrowed his eyes at the armored guy before him. He didn't even seem tired at all from going up all these steps. As they ran by a window, X skidded to a halt and looked out. X's broad-range eye camera zoomed in to see the sight of a man-sized falcon falling from the sky, injured badly and looking as if he had been caught in an explosion.

"What is it?" Zoro asked.

"Someone shot a bird in midair from here," X scowled, "A peregrine falcon if I'm cross-referencing correctly."

"Cross-what?" Zoro raised a brow, "Whatever. Now we know for sure the bomb's up there if someone's shooting from up here."

X nodded with narrowed eyes. The two kept on running up before getting to the roof part of the tower that led into the actual tower part. X stopped when he noticed Zoro stopped and looked down. With his sight, X could make out a group of people and what appeared to be a reindeer-like robot down on the ground.

"Hey! I've been looking for you guys!" Zoro shouted.

"You're up there too, Zoro!?" the orange-haired girl X could make out exclaimed.

"...Why is there a woman from a harem down there?" X asked Zoro, pointing at the orange-haired girl.

"Who's that, Zoro!?" a man in bandages and a long nose shouted.

"This is X!" Zoro replied, "What're you guys doing down there?"

"THAT'S WHAT I WANNA ASK!" the long nose shouted.

"Well the Marines kept telling me, "Head North, head North," so I thought I should climb up here…" Zoro informed before pointing at X, "But this guy said they meant to turn left."

"DO YOU EVEN KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN 'NORTH' AND 'UP!?'" long nose demanded, "In any case...Good job! Just get up there and-"

"It's no good…" X looked at the blue-haired girl that he faintly heard speak, "You can't head inside the clock tower from where those three are at. To get to the top of the clock tower, you have to use the special staircase located on the first floor!"

X's eyes widened. Then...Then he and Zoro ran up the wrong way! Looking at the clock tower, his inspected every angle of it. Narrowing his eyes, he calculated what needed to be done. As everyone else watched as the face of the clock opened up fully to expose the cannon, X ran towards the side of the tower. He jumped and landed on the side. As he began to slide down, he made another jump and got up higher. Repeating his wall jumping, he scaled up higher and higher towards the opening. He began to faintly make out two figures. One was a woman in a frog-themed outfit with frog-themed guns in her hands. The other figure was a man in a purple robe with his white hair fluffed up around his head and sunglasses above his closed eyes. X was a bit confused on how a man could have so much of his facial features resembled the number '7.' He ignored it to press on in his scaling.

"Tic Tac Tic. Hey, listen, **Mr. 7** , I feel we're important characters," the woman noted.

"That's right, **Miss Father's** ~~ **Day** ~~~."

"I wonder if we can get a promotion after this...What do you think?" Ms. Father's Day giggled sinisterly.

"Haha! That'd be awesome! So good, Miss Father's Day!" Mr. 7 laughed, "Because-Ah oh!-We're going to use such a big cannon toward the center of the crowd and shoot! So good! Hahaha!"

I think not," X stated as he landed between them, grabbing their frog-themed gun and 7-themed gun and crushed them.

"Gaaaaah! Wh-Who are you?!" Miss Father's Day exclaimed in shock.

"My name is 'X,' a robot designed by Dr. Thomas D. Light," X informed, "To protect the innocent lives below, I will not allow you to fire this bomb!"

"Oh? What are you going to do?" Mr. 7 asked before X picked them up by the front of their clothes and hung them on some hooks nearby, "Gah!"

"H-Hey!" Miss Father's Day exclaimed, "You bastard! Put us down right now!"

"Using the correct method, you can get yourselves down. By then, though, the bomb will be taken care of," X informed as he entered the cannon and narrowed his eyes, "A time bomb." hearing the sound of something landing, he turned to see the blue-haired girl from the floor landing with what he assumed was the reindeer-robot, but bigger now.

"...How did you change like that?" X asked the reindeer-robot.

"I'm a Reindeer who ate the Hito-Hito no Mi, so now I can change into different forms!" the figure informed.

"And you?" X asked the girl.

"The bomb!" Vivi shouted.

"Ah! Oh, you're right," X nodded before turning to the bomb and opened the armor of his left hand, revealing a small array of items, including a pair of scissors, "I can disarm the bomb. I was in the middle of analyzing where the wiring lead to and which one would detonate the bomb if cut." he cut the white wire near the bottom and the ticking stopped, the timer halting at '00:00:15,' "Bomb disabled."

"Whaaaaa!?" the two Baroque Works agents exclaimed in shock as X walked out of the cannon.

"Th...there was a timer on the bomb?" the reindeer-robot asked, making X look down to see that it had shifted to the size of a small child while also noting the pink top hat with a white 'X' on it.

"A doctor?" X asked.

"Yes. Mr. Doctor is a great one," the girl nodded.

"Shut up!" the reindeer-robot snapped as X began to witness the strangest wiggling dance he had ever seen in the last half-hour of his awakening, "J...Just because you're calling me the best doesn't mean that I like it! Asshole!"

"...You are not pleased?" X asked.

"He is. He seems to be unable to take compliments, though," the girl laughed sheepishly, "Oh yes! I am **Vivi**."

X nodded before looking at 'Mr. Doctor,' "There's injured at a tomb nearby. One has a stab wound through her midsection that needs to be treated immediately."

"Ah!" 'Mr. Doctor' froze before adopting a stern look, "Lead me there!"

X nodded before looking at the two agents, "What about them?"

"I've got an idea," Vivi informed before cutting the lighting rope from the cannon and quickly began to tie them up...while they were still on the hooks.

"Oh come on!" Miss Father's Day snapped, "At least let us down!"

"You will be," a voice informed before X looked at the opening to see the injured falcon there, its form now humanoid, "Once the authorities arrive."

"P... **Pell**!" Vivi exclaimed.

"This place holds a lot of memories," the humanoid falcon noted, "It's the Suna-Suna Dan's secret base…" he glanced over at Vivi, "Really, you were such a noise child...You gave me a headache almost everyday. Princess Vivi, I am very pleased that I am able to serve the **Nefertari** Family. It's something from the depths of my heart that I am so proud of." he looked at X, "Who are you?"

"My name is 'X,'" the robot informed, "Please, can you take Mr. Doctor and I to the royal tomb? A man and a woman are injured there, the woman having a stab wound through her midsection."

"Wait," X turned to Vivi, "I'll go with Mr. Doctor, Mr. Warrior."

"...I'm not a warrior," X noted.

"Yet, you helped save us from this bomb by disarming it," Vivi informed, "I'll go with them. Please, try to stop the fighting."

"...Why do they fight?" X asked.

"...There has been little rain these last few years," Pell informed, "The men not in uniform are rebels believing the king was the cause of it with forbidden **Dance Powder**."

"...Then only rain will make them stop," X informed, "But, I will stay and keep guard of these two to prevent the bomb's detonation until it can be safely transported to the bottom of the sea."

Pell nodded. He didn't know the man, but his princess seemed to trust him. It was then the ground began to rumble. Glancing out to the east, where the royal tomb was, X was able to see that nearly halfway towards it, the ground began to bubble up before exploding, letting something shoot into the sky in a smoking, sandy spiral. X saw that it was Crocodile, beaten thoroughly to the point of unconsciousness.

"On second thought, we need to get down that hole," X informed, "A young man named 'Luffy' is down there most likely, having just beaten Crocodile."

"Luffy?!" Mr. Doctor exclaimed in shock before running to the hole and shouting down, "Everyone! Luffy's in a hole that just formed nearby! Try to get him out of it!"

"Let's get going," Pell informed.

"Vivi, can you stay here? If it starts to rain, we need someone from the Royal Family to calm the masses," X informed.

Vivi nodded. X waited until the other were flying off before slumping down beside the cannon. He gazed up at the sky through the opening and began to feel the connection. It was old, but out in the sky was still a satellite. It amazed him at how, despite its age, that it was still fully operable in terms of video. Closing his eyes, he connected to the satellite's video feed and awed at the sight of the planet that was being gazed upon. A singular ring stretched across the planet vertically with a long series of islands littered all over it. There was even a small set of islands in the sky, even! And was...was that a city of gold?! Miraculous! Opening his eyes, X smiled a little in amazement as he watched as rain began to finally fall. This was Earth? It was marvelous.

* * *

"King Cobra!" Pell shouted as he swooped down and landed, changing into his normal human self.

"Where's the injured?!" Mr. Doctor demanded before blinking twice.

"Hm? A robot doctor modeled after a reindeer?" Roll pondered, pausing from packing up her medical supplies in the satchel she had on her body.

"I'm a Reindeer!" Mr. Doctor snapped, his eyes blank and his teeth shark-like at the insinuation.

"Who are you?" Pell demanded before noticing Robin, "Ah! Ms. All-Sunday!"

"Hm? I thought she was called 'Nico Robin,'" Roll tilted her head as she looked over at her left, where the woman was sound asleep with tight bandages on where she had been stabbed.

"Wh-Why did you treat her?" Pell asked.

"I'm a nurse in training," Roll fumed, puffing one of her cheeks up in annoyance, "It's wrong to not treat others just for being bad or good."

The reindeer nodded as he ran over and began to examine the treatments, "Oh, these are some great wrappings! Did you use a forward or reverse wrap?"

"I used a small blend of both on Mr. Nefertari here and a reverse wrap on Ms. Nico there," Roll informed with a smile, glad to see someone noticing her technique, "My dream is to be one of the best nurses after all! One that can help any doctor treat any cure! Except for death, that'll happen no matter how much you want to prevent it. Everything has an end after all." she looked over at Pell, not noticing the reindeer looking at her in awe, "Is there anywhere these two can be moved? They need to stay in comfortable areas, such as beds. The areas need to be clean as well, so as to prevent any infections."

"Uh...Well...We have a medical wing at the palace, but…" Pell began.

"Good! Then let's get there quickly and make sure their wounds don't get exacerbated!" Roll ordered.

By the end of it all, a confused-and slightly frightened-Pell was carrying the reindeer (who was finally able to introduce himself as **Tony Tony Chopper** to the girl), the robot girl, the king, and the right-hand lady of Crocodile to the palace. It didn't help the Royal Guard member that the reindeer had chosen that, once they had flown over the hole Luffy made, once he saw Luffy was okay, he passed out just as the rain began to fall.

"You...You were right," Vivi gasped as she watched the fighting starting to die down.

"It's your cue," X informed.

Vivi nodded before standing on the top of the opening, "EVERYONE! PLEASE! STOP FIGHTING!" X smiled as his hearing picked up the voices of the people, all finally noticing their princess, "The rain right now, will fall again like before. Because all the nightmares have ended!-!-!" he frowned as he heard the roars of anger from the rebels involving some sort of attack before hearing someone ordering the royal army to stand down before another voice ordered the rebels to stand down, "I...Igaram! Mr. Protector, please stay here with the prisoners."

"Affirmative," X nodded, "And my name is 'X,' your highness."

X watched as the young girl ran off. Closing his eyes once more, he connected to the satellite to observe while he listened. He smiled a little as he watched Crocodile be stripped of a title by a Marine officer. He smiled a little as he saw Pell land to let the man speak, was surprised to find out that the man was actually the king of the land, and applauded the man in how he declared that the war would reunite them all and do their best to live on. He opened his eyes to see the three Marines run in. X pointed at the two still tied up and hanging before he pointed behind him with his thumb.

"Be careful with this. The bomb still has a chance of going off with enough force," X advised.

"Thank you," one of them, the chubby one X remembered when direction Zoro to the main plaza, thanked.

"You're welcome," X nodded.

* * *

X sat in a chair, looking at the sleeping form of Roll. The girl had exhausted herself worrying over and treating everyone there. What the doctors here called the most dangerous poison known to them, she had treated Luffy for it in just under a few minutes. Looking over her bed, his eyes settled on the sleeping form of Nico Robin. The woman was able to read the language his father made with ease and, because of it, the king was able to awaken them at long last. X owed this woman a lot of thanks. He then glanced around at the others in medical beds. The orange-haired woman was the only one still in her covers, content in her sleep. Chopper (Roll informed her of their names as she finished treating them) had his pillow near his feet, the blond-haired man with a curled eyebrow (he and Roll had both analyzed it long enough to know it was purely natural. Along with the other eyebrow) was almost off the bed with only his feet still on it, the upper half of it occupied by Zoro (Roll nearly throttled the man for all the wounds he had until she caught him trying to take the bandages off. Most of the time before they fell asleep after she caught him, **Sanji** the blond man was laughing at how Zoro had been beaten with a broom). The long nose ( **Usopp** ) didn't have as much bandages as he previously had (X was surprised to see that the nose was natural and Roll immediately declared him a **Tengu** , much to Usopp's annoyance) and was asleep facing backwards with his behind in the air. Luffy was completely sprawled out, a snot bubble in his nose. Turning to the door opening, he saw a large man with his hair done up in horizontal curls climbing up to his head enter, wearing a formal sleeping outfit. It also caught the attention of Vivi (whom Roll also treated since she had minor wounds compared to the others), who was wearing a white sleeping down with a blue blanket on her shoulders.

"Princess Vivi, why are you still awake?" the man asked.

"Igaram," Vivi smiled before resuming her observation of the rain.

"You cannot sleep?" Igaram asked.

"I can, but right now...All I want to do is watch it rain. Just for a little longer."

Igaram smiled softly at that. He heard the sound of blankets being moved and looked to see X was putting Usopp correctly into bed. Igaram nodded before he began to help by putting Sanji and Zoro into their beds.

"Ah, Pell, he...He's one of the most proudest soldiers that I have ever seen," Igaram informed with a smile.

"Yes...I really want to thank him once he awakes," Vivi agreed.

"That would be the highest reward for him," Igaram agreed before looking at X, "So...You and the girl who treated Pell beyond what the other doctors could do were resting in what the Royal Family protected for all these years?"

"Yes," X nodded, looking down at Roll with a small smile, "I'm glad your king released us. He...is a good man."

"Indeed," Igaram nodded as he glanced over at Vivi, "He has a way with crying girls."

"I-Igaram!" Vivi blushed.

"But...Is it true? Are you...the Island Destroyer known as Pluton?" Igaram asked, making Vivi gasp softly and look at X.

"...My codename is 'Pluton,' but I do not believe I have the capability to destroy entire islands," X informed.

"X, you must never call yourself 'Pluton' under any circumstance," Igaram warned, "The World Government will not stop pursuing you until you are captured and placed under their power."

"Why would they want me?"

"To control," Vivi informed, "They cannot stand pirates and will do whatever it takes to eliminate them."

"If they have you, then you'll be forced to kill so many innocent lives," Igaram trembled.

The two knew what they were speaking of. Having been part of a criminal organization for two years, they had seen some of the more...darker aspects of the Marines. X looked at Roll as she turned a little in her sleep. His eyes narrowed before facing them.

"I refuse to let them control me. Freedom is the right of all sentient beings," X informed, "If they do actions that threaten other lives, I'll give it my all to try to save just as many lives threatened."

* * *

"Eh? This is an outstanding combination…" one of the elder doctors of the royal family, who had stopped by to check on the injured, noted as he watched Chopper mixing something up with Roll providing the correct amounts of components, "No, truly logical...Very amazing. Where did you learn all this doctor skill?"

"Hihi...Tony-kun is an outstanding doctor from the Drum Kingdom," Vivi informed, walking by with a bowl of cold water.

"What!-! Really!? So you came from the country that used to be very famous for it's doctors?" the elder asked in amazement as Roll giggled.

 _'Chopper-chan already told me about it the other day,'_ Roll thought as she glanced over at the snoring Luffy while X was speaking with Robin, _'Three days...I hope their captain wakes up.'_

"Shut up!" Roll looked to see the sheepish smile Chopper was giving while pulling a chair out and offering tea, "Quit staring at me! Moron! Get the hell away from me, asshole!"

"Can I take that to mean: 'Please, have some tea and observe all you like?'" the doctor asked Vivi.

"I think so!" Vivi giggled with Roll.

"Goodness! This is extraordinary," the doctor complimented.

"Shut up…"

"Chopper-chan is quite the talented doctor!" Roll complimented with a giggle.

"I'm extremely impressed!" the doctor agreed as Vivi gently wiped Luffy's forehead with a moistened cloth.

"Shut up and get the hell away from me, assholes!"

"Are you sure?" X asked with a small frown.

"Indeed," Robin replied, "What you did was inexcusable."

"...No one is born to be alone," X informed before he glanced at Luffy with Roll at the same time, not noticing the brief look of shock.

"He's awake," they said in unison just before Luffy got up and screamed.

"WHOAAAAAAAAH!-!-!-!-!-! I SLEPT VERY WELL!-!-!-!-!" Luffy screamed to the heavens before he began to feel his head as Sanji and Usopp entered the room, "Huh? Hat? My Hat? I feel very hungry!-!-! Where's my breakfast and Hat!-!? Breakfast! Hat?!"

"You just woke up and you're already loud!" Sanji noted, a cigarette in his mouth, "And it won't be breakfast. It's early evening right now."

"Stop moving you," Roll fumed as she walloped Luffy's head with a green broom.

"ITE!" Luffy yelped in shock, "How did you hit me with a broom?! Are you like Jii-chan and his fists?!"

"How are you so active despite just waking up from three days of sleep?" Roll questioned before stretching a small bit of Luffy's arm, "And this body...How are you rubber?" _'And what does he mean by his Grandfather and his fists?!'_

Roll yelped in surprise when an arm grew out of Luffy's arm above her stretching area and put a straw hat on Luffy's head.

"Nurse-san found this near the front of the palace," Robin informed with a small smile.

"Oh, good!" Luffy grinned before noticing the three newcomers (to him), "Eh? Oh! You!" he pointed at Robin, "You're the lady who saved me from the funny moving sand!"

"You mean quicksand?" X asked as he looked at Robin.

"Indeed," Robin informed with a small smile, "Had I not, you would have suffocated slowly and cruelly while bleeding out, dying the sands red with the blood you lost."

"How morbid…" Usopp and Nami whispered as they hid behind X.

"Oh! Why are you here?!"

"My father granted her amnesty from her crimes," Vivi informed, "She's been tasked with using her powers to repair the palace from all the damages caused by the attacks three days ago as agreed upon for her amnesty."

"Powers?" Luffy asked, "You mean how she got my hat and made Sanji and Usopp fly?"

Robin smirked before a bouquet of her arms bloom on her left elbow.

"SUGEI! Oi! Join my nakama!" Luffy demanded before Usopp and Nami slapped the back of his head.

"Don't make decisions that fast!" both barked.

"Why are you hitting him?" Roll frowned.

"It's normal with us," Chopper informed, finding this a good distraction from the doctor's praise aside from the man being called out.

"I'm glad you got well, Luffy-san!" Vivi giggled.

"Got well? I've always been well," Luffy noted in confusion.

"You dummy!" Roll sighed, "You were in a serious condition. You had a temperature of 103 degrees for a while, you had poison running through your system, multiple cuts and stab wounds on your body, and how is it that not one piece left a scar?!"

"You look completely healed from what I can see," X added.

"Luffy, these are X and Roll. Roll attended you all this time, helping Chopper and Vivi!" Nami informed.

"Really? Thanks!" Luffy grinned as he stretched his arms out and pulled all four into a big hug.

"Oh hey, Luffy! You woke up?" Zoro asked, wearing a black robe with his sash, bandana, and swords on him.

"Oi, Zoro, long time no see!" Luffy greeted, letting the four go before realizing what he said, "'Long time no see?'"

"Ahh, oi! You went out training again, didn't you?!" Chopper demanded as Zoro poured a cup of water for himself, Chopper and Roll running over to him.

"What? It's my business, right?" Zoro asked.

"No means no! I'm the ship doctor!" Chopper snapped.

"And don't take off the bandages, either!" Roll growled as she whipped her broom out.

"...Sumimasen," Zoro bowed, sweat running down his entire head.

"Your sister is scary when it comes to making sure patients are okay," Usopp whispered as he and X sweatdropped.

X simply nodded.

"'Long time no see'...? 'Long time no see?'" Luffy repeated as he tilted his head in confusion.

"Again, you were asleep for three days, Captain-san," Robin informed with a small smile.

"Three days?! Did I sleep for three whole days?!" Luffy exclaimed in shock before he added after three seconds, "I missed fifteen meals…"

"How come you can calculate so quickly when it comes to food?!" Nami demanded.

"On top of that, in his calculations there are five meals a day!" Usopp added.

"He must be adding a snack and dessert," Roll giggled.

"Did I hear right that the captain is up?!" Igaram, sporting three curls instead of his many, red lipstick, and a red dress, asked as he entered with a pair of cooks pushing in a large cart of fruits and vegetables into the room, "It'll be dinner time soon, so would you wait a little?"

"What…?!" Zoro freaked.

"Oh oi, old tube-hair guy! You're alive?!" Luffy asked.

"S...So you really were into that sort of thing…" Zoro gawked before Roll's broom slammed into the tops of their heads.

"My apologies for these two," Roll apologized sheepishly.

"No, minna. She's **Terracotta** -san," Vivi introduced, "She's Igaram's wife and is also the head of the palace's servers."

"Thanks for helping Vivi-sama and my husband."

"No way…! A wife could resemble her husband, but this is too much!" Zoro muttered with a sweatdrop.

"I heard you eat a lot. Would you have some fruit to hold you over until dinner time?" Terracotta asked.

"Okay," Luffy relied before everyone blinked and the food was gone.

"Are you a magician?!" Zoro, Sanji, and Roll exclaimed with blank eyes and shark-like teeth.

"Occhan, I'm gonna eat three days worth of food!" Luffy declared.

"Looking forward to it! I've devoted my past thirty years to the job of serving!" Terracotta informed, pumping a fist, "I won't lose against a youngster's stomach, so eat to your heart's content!"

* * *

"Th...The heck is this?" Roll gawked as she witnessed Luffy's arms stretching and eating everything he could grab.

X munched on a rice ball as he observed how Luffy was eating. It seems that being rubber let his mouth act like squirrel cheeks. He wondered if Luffy could store food in there for later...but decided against it after seeing how fast the cheeks were shrinking and then growing back up.

"Eat quick or it'll be gone!" Zoro ordered the three newcomers to Luffy's eating habits before luffy stole the piece of meat he was about to bite into...along with Usopp's freshly obtained cooked lobster.

"Oi, Luffy! You just took the food from my plate, didn't you?!" Usopp demanded, a foot on the table with a knife aimed at the captain.

Luffy, mouth full, shook his head until Nami slammed a fist into one of his cheeks, making him shoot a bone from a piece of meat out.

"Don't spit the food!" Nami snapped.

"Oi, oi, if you eat in a hurry like that, you'll…" Sanji noted as Chopper was slurping up a ton of spaghetti before Luffy could get it.

"We've got a lot, so…" Vivi began to say as Usopp pulled out a pellet.

"Well then, wait and see, Luffy. I'll put the **Tabasco Star** on this," Usopp chuckled sinisterly as he cracked open the pellet and caused a liquid to cover the rice ball he had on his plate.

Luffy caught the rice ball and shoved it into his mouth. His face turned red before tilting his mouth skyward to release a stream of flames. As Roll yelped and began to call for some water for Luffy, Usopp began to start laughing like mad with a camel with long eyelashes. Usopp then noticed the camel was eating at the table as well.

"Oi! **Eyelashes** , when did you…?!" Usopp freaked as the camel laughed again as he ate some steak.

"What do you call that dish?" Sanji asked a chef near him.

"This is called Konafa. You bake noodles in the oven and…"

"Umai~!" Nami and Roll moaned in delight as Robin smiled as she ate her meal.

"It's quite delicious," Robin complimented.

X nodded. While Roll did say he didn't need to eat unless he wanted some extra fuel if his sunlight reserves ever went dry, he was amazed at how food tasted. As food was served, it was quickly picked up by everyone.

"Oi, off man (Oi, old man)! I diffn mow mu mere meh ming (I didn't know you were the king)!" Luffy informed with a full mouth, "Men mu're...muff...Mimi's mad, muh (Then you're...um...Vivi's dad, huh)?"

"W-Well...We can talk after the dinner," Cobra chuckled.

"Meah, mu're might (Yeah, you're right)," Luffy agreed before he began to rapidly eat once more.

"Can I have another mug full?!" Zoro called out.

"Oh~! Strawberry cake~! How I missed you~!" Roll moaned in pleasure as she ate a slice of cake decorated in strawberries.

"Oi, we need some water here!" Sani called as a choking Chopper was banging on the table with tears streaming down his cheeks.

"What a noisy dinner table…" a guard sweatdropped.

"They're too vulgar to keep watching…" another added while Vivi just laughed.

"How can Vivi-sama just keep laughing…?"

Slowly, the guard began to realize just why it was so hard for her to stop laughing. In a matter of moments after that, they began to crack up as well. On the table, Luffy was laughing while as round as a ball with all the food he ate, Usopp was dancing while balancing plates on his nose, and Chopper was dancing with Chopsticks in his nose and mouth.

* * *

"Wooooo!-!-!-!" Luffy cheered, butt-naked, as all the males were in a large spring-like room with lion statues dispensing water from their jaws into the large tub in the middle of the steamy room.

"This is the palace's best bath," Cobra informed, "It's usually used in the rainy season!"

"This is great!-!-! Luxury!-!-! Luxury!-!-!" Usopp cheered.

"Such amazing architecture," X noted.

"Aren't you afraid of rusting?" Chopper asked.

"No," X replied, "Roll explained to me that Father created Roll and I to be just like humans, meaning we can eat, sleep, and bathe."

"Can you poop?" Luffy asked.

"What kind of question is that?!" Sanji and Usopp snapped.

"...I refuse to answer on the count of it being awkward?" X sweatdropped.

"So you've got cobalt hair," Zoro noted, "Not the weirdest hair color I've seen."

"You should, Marimo," Sanji smirked.

"What was that, Ero-cook?" Zoro growled before the two began to butt heads in anger.

"I'll be the first to go in!" Luffy declared as he and Usopp ran.

"No, I'll be the first!" Usopp declared before they tripped and began to slide all over.

"Are you guys enjoying that?" X sweatdropped.

"Well, I really enjoyed the dinner. Because of the current situation, I thought we'd keep it simple, but it seems that anything you guys get involved with would become a party," Cobra noted as Luffy and Usopp splashed around in the water.

"Oi Zoro, look at this! We can train here!" Luffy called, causing Zoro to pause from lathering Chopper's back to see Luffy and Usopp under the lions.

"Training! Training!" Usopp declared.

"What training is that?!" Zoro demanded.

"Martial arts," X cross-referenced once more, "Along with various religious practices. One of which has the training as a way to cleanse one of impure thoughts."

"So, where's the women's bath?" Sanji asked, lightly elbowing Igaram.

"Are you nuts?! Why would I tell you?! Vivi-sama's there!"

"Don't be so stingy!" Sanji assured as he slapped Igaram's back.

"It's behind that wall!" Cobra informed, pointing at a wall.

"King! You bastard!" Igaram barked.

"Oh, Ossan! You're not bad at all!" Usopp noted.

* * *

"This feels good~!" Nami moaned in delight as Robin used her blooming arms to wash Nami's back for her, "I wonder if a ship with a big bath like this exists…"

"I'm sure it does, since the sea is so vast," Vivi noted.

"How big is the sea now since it was a thousand years ago?" Roll pondered, recalling the powers one of the twenty figures had was the ability to alter the planet's surface.

"It's quite massive," Robin replied as Roll washed her back before adding, "And I've been on a few ships that had baths this large, but not quite as good as this one."

"We saw Giants...we saw Dinosaurs…" Vivi noted.

"Eh? Dinosaurs?!" Roll exclaimed in shock.

"We also saw cherry blossoms bloom in a winter land...There're more and more things in the sea that are beyond our imagination!" Vivi giggled in awe before Roll squeaked as hid behind Robin.

"Hentai-tachi!" Roll screamed as she pointed at the wall where all the males were peeking over...including Eyelashes the camel.

"Oi, what're you all doing?!" Vivi demanded.

"Those idiots…" Nami sighed before standing up, "It'll be 100,000 berries per person, okay?"

"Hm?" Luffy tilted his head as Nami turned them, her body covered in her towel.

" **Happiness Punch**!"

"Sh-Shameful!" Roll exclaimed with a blush after Nami let her towel drop.

Nearly all the males fell over with nosebleeds. X looked up with a heavy blush, Chopper tilted his head, and Luffy just laughed and gave a thumbs up.

"Nami-san!" Vivi and Roll exclaimed in shock.

Nami frowned as she watched Luffy go down last, "Do you think Luffy's gay?"

"Where'd this come from?!" Roll exclaimed.

"He didn't go down like the others," Nami frowned, "X looked away before he got a good look, Chopper I can get since he's a Reindeer, but Luffy?"

* * *

"Are they all sleeping with funny eyes?" Luffy asked as he pointed at the downed men and camel, all with nosebleeds and hearts in their eyes.

"Let...Let's not disturb them if they are, Luffy-san," X noted, trying-but failing-to delete the memory of the navigator's large E-Cups, _'She really does have orange hair...Gah! Delete memory! Delete memory!_ Error _?!'_

"Mellorine…" Sanji moaned in delight.

"...Arigatou…" Cobra thanked after a few more minutes.

"You dirty old man…" everyone said in unison.

"I'm not talking about that!" Cobra snapped before recovering and bowing, "I'm talking about the country."

"Oi oi, is it okay...for a king to do such a thing…?" Zoro asked.

"This is a serious incident, Cobra-sama," Igaram advised, "A king shouldn't bow his head to anyone."

"Igaram...Authority is something you wear over your clothes," Cobra informed, keeping his bow, "But we're in a bath. There isn't such a thing as a naked king."

 _'Perhaps I should advise against mentioning about naked emperors,'_ X thought.

"I'd like to thank you from the bottom of my heart as a father and as a resident of this land," Cobra continued before getting up with a smile, "Domo arigatou. I really appreciate it!"

* * *

"I can't believe we're doing this," Roll muttered in her normal dress as she, Robin, and X followed the Straw Hats on riding a set of horse-sized ducks through the desert.

"Hmm...This is nice," Zoro noted, Robin sitting behind him on the horse-sized duck he was on.

"So this is finally farewell to the sand kingdom…" Usopp sniffled, Roll sitting behind him, before clearing up quickly to look at Luffy, "Oi, Luffy, when are you gonna stop eating?"

"The Alabasta dishes are great!" Luffy informed, X behind him, "Sanji, make them sometime…"

"Yeah. I was interested, too, so I got some recipes from Terracotta-san. Some spices, too."

"Oh, I hope you got the strawberry cake!" Roll beamed.

"Hai, Roll-san~!" Sanji declared, a heart replacing his eye.

"It was nice of them to let us have the books they had on hand there," X noted as he looked through a book on ships.

"Nami, are you feeling sick?" Chopper asked in concern as Nami rode in silence.

"Nami, do you want one piece of meat? Just one piece, though," Luffy offered.

"I believe it is something else," Robin noted.

"...Nami-san, you're thinking about Ms. Vivi, yes?" X asked.

"I understand how you're feeling..but thinking doesn't get you anywhere," Sanji informed.

"You two seemed to be really close," Roll noted, "But cheer up a little. I'm hoping to work along well with you on the ship."

"I...For Vivi's sake...I'm willing to give up...on the 1 billion berries…" Nami calmly informed.

"Of course you should!" nearly everyone shouted.

"So it was about money?!" Sanji freaked.

"Oh my!" Robin giggled.

"Eh?!" Roll exclaimed.

"Ah! Usopp fell!" Chopper screamed.

"I'll get him!" X offered as he jumped off and grabbed Usopp before running after them.

"Nami! Don't act misleading!" Zoro barked.

"What?! What're you guys worked up about?" Nami asked, "If it's about Vivi, it's no use worrying about it, right?"

"Oi! Usopp fell and X is chasing us!" Chopper shouted before screaming, "X is catching up so fast!-!-!"

"Leave them be," Nami shrugged.

"It was your fault!" everyone but X and Robin shouted.

"Is he trustworthy, Ms. Nico?" X asked.

"Hai. Bon Clay is a special man. When he becomes friends with someone, to him, they're a friend for life," Robin informed with her ever-present smile, "He was quite brokenhearted to hear you all had to be eliminated."

"Oh! Merry!" Chopper shouted as he pointed ahead towards a river where a lamb-themed caravel was.

"A caravel?" Roll asked, "Kawaii! It's a lamb!"

"That's our ship! The **Going Merry**!" Usopp beamed happily, "It comes from the village I was born in and given to us by my friend Kaya and her butler Merry!"

"Eh? The ship is named after a butler?" Roll asked in amazement.

"He made her!" Luffy grinned with a laugh.

"I've been waiting, you guys!" a voice laughed.

The ducks all stopped before the ship and let everyone off as the voice continued laughing. Roll looked up and shuddered a little, hiding behind X. The man(?) wore a blue, swan-themed ballet outfit with a pink jacket trimmed in white, white fake feathers on his back, and a crown with two puffballs on the sides.

"Long time no see!" he greeted.

"We're here!" Sanji informed.

"Okay, unload!" Usopp ordered as everyone but Robin, X, and Roll began to unload the ducks.

"Are you the one called 'Bon Clay?'" X asked as the man jumped down from the crow's nest.

"Yep!" he replied, "Oh! Who are you?"

"X. This is my sister, Roll," X informed, "We're new members of this ship."

"Oh! A pleasure!" Bon Clay greeted before tapping X's cheek and Roll's cheek, "To have new nakama is so precious! So for you two, I will show you the power of my Mane-Mane no Mi!" with that, he touched the right side of his face and Roll was suddenly before the two, wearing Bon Clay's clothes, "Anyone I touch, I can turn into with touching my right cheek," he then turned into X, "And then with my left hand touching the left side of my face…" he touched the left side of his face and changed back, "I change back!"

"Oh! Shapeshifting!" X applauded.

"Creepy…" Roll whispered.

"Thanks, you guys!" Usopp thanked, "We have to say goodbye to you here."

"Have a safe trip!" Zoro waved with the others.

"Say hello to the King, the old tube-hair guy, and the others!" Luffy called.

"And make sure Pele has his bandages changed daily!" Roll added.

"Take care!" Nami called.

"I'll see you...definitely see you again someday!" Bon Clay sobbed, "Hm? Wait a sec!"

"What?!" Sanji asked.

"Don't 'what' me!" Bon snapped, "That's not how you should treat your friend, is it?!"

"See?" Robin giggled, "A pleasure, Bon Clay."

"Nico Robin!" Bon Clay exclaimed, "Ah! So good to see you're safe! Did you find your Poneglyph?"

"Not yet," Robin replied, "But I did find a new crew to take me in."

"That's great to hear!" Bon Clay sobbed happily.

"What do you mean 'friend?' We were enemies. You lied to us!" Luffy pointed out.

"Did you not hear what Robin-san said?" Roll frowned.

"I did," Nami nodded, "It seems he didn't know we were the enemy until long after the fact he was on the ship."

"Even if we're not enemies, why are you on our ship?!" Luffy demanded as the loading process for the ship began.

"You stupid head!" Bon Clay barked.

"What'd you say?!" Luffy demanded.

"Listen! If I wasn't on this ship now, what do you think would've happened to it?!" Bon Clay demanded.

"My guess is that it would have been taken," Roll assumed.

"Bing-bong! Correct!" Bon Clay declared.

"What?!" Luffy freaked.

"Do you know what's going on around this island's perimeter right now?!" Bon Clay demanded, "He declared that the Mugiwara Kaizoku were not allowed to be hunted while on Alabasta as thanks for delivering his daughter back to the country safely! But the Marines are waiting at the sea for you all!"

"What?! Then you protected the Going Merry from the Marines?!" Luffy exclaimed.

"Why?!" Usopp asked.

"How come?!" Chopper pondered.

"Because we're friends!" Bon Clay replied with a thumbs up.

In a matter of minutes, all four were on the ship, laughing and dancing together. Roll and X sweatdropped as they watched and X swore he heard some sort of jaunty partying tune on a piano.

"Do we still have stuff to load?" Nami asked before seeing a trail of hands acting as a conveyor belt for the remaining supplies.

"In other words, Mr. 2...You guys couldn't get off of the island due to the Marine's coast siege, so you wanted to find allies...Isn't that right?"

"Bon-chan!" the Baka Trio screamed as Bon Clay fell over in shock.

"That's right...In a time like this…" Bon Clay sniffled, "Because it's a time like this...Gather! In the name of friendship! Let's unite our strength and fight together!"

"YEAH!-!-!-!" the Baka Trio and honorary member Bon-chan cried out bravely.

"Geez…" Nami and Roll sighed.

"Yeah!" a group of men on a swan-themed caravel shouted nearby.

"So, thanks in advance!" one of them added.

"You were there?!" Zoro, Sanji, Roll, and Nami shouted in surprise.

* * *

"Cast off!" Nami ordered.

"Fire! Fire! Fire!"

"Dammit! Shoot cannonballs! Then I could repel them!" Luffy complained as Merry looked like a pincushion with all the black spikes impaling her.

"Seriously...Gimmie a break!" Bon Clay shouted.

"This is bad," X noted as he skimmed through a book on ship maintenance, "If any of those spears hits the keel, Going Merry will sink!"

"SINK?!" Usopp freaked.

"Oi! X, can you do something?" Luffy asked.

"...Oh, yes," X nodded before clenching his right hand before it went into his arm and was replaced with the end of a blaster, " **X-Buster**."

X aimed and red energy lit up in the barrel. With a single mental command, a sphere of red energy shot out and slammed into the ship that was shooting them with spears, blasting a hole in the side.

"SUGEI!" Luffy, Chopper, Bon Clay, Bon Clay's crew, and Usopp screamed, stars in their eyes, "He fires a laser!"

"Here come more!" Nami freaked as more ship began to fire.

" **Roll Buster**!" Roll shouted as red armor formed on her right lower arm and replaced her hand with a blaster as well.

The two siblings began to fire lasers that deflected the spikes shot at them, Robin, Sanji, Zoro, and Nami spotting the shots Roll fired were weaker than X's shots.

"Oi! X, keep focused on sinking their ships!" Luffy ordered, "Roll, Zoro, SAnji, Usopp, protect the side X isn't on!"

"So this is the Black Cage Unit's specialty, the **Black Spear Formation** ," Robin noted with a small smile, "All of the ships, while at a distance, move together in unison with their target, never letting them escape. However…" she glanced over at X as he shot the keep of another ship and sinking it, _'Pluton is on our side...'_

"They're breaking it!" a Marine freaked, "The formation's being broken apart by someone on the ship!"

"It...They have Nico Robin on their ship!" a Marine screamed, looking through a spyglass, "And...And the one sinking the ships...Is a man in armor with a laser gun for an arm!"

"Eh?! A LASER?!" the men of the Marines screamed in excitement, stars in their eyes before one marine vessel exploded and hit another vessel, sinking them.

"Hm?" X looked nearby to see Usopp gawking by a cannon, "Mr. Usopp? Did you do that?"

"Sugei!" Luffy cheered as Usopp looked at them with his fish-like face.

"O...Okay!" he assumed a brave stance, "It was just as I calculated! That's what happens to ships once I'm on the job!"

"Hana-chan, that was amazing! Good job!" Bon cheered, "With you and X-chan, the East and North are clear! Now we can break through there in one shot!"

"Bon Clay-sama! There's trouble!" the lookout on Bon's ship shouted.

"What is it?!"

"The 'Black Cage' is here!"

"Oh no!"

"What's going on?" Luffy asked as X looked through a book of Marines that was the latest update.

"Ah. Here we are. 'Black Cage' Hina. Patrols the waters of Alabasta for Pirates. Eater of the Cage-Cage Fruit, she can turn her body into cages," X noted, "Hm? Mr. Captain, why is your grandfather a Marine?"

"Eh?!" Roll exclaimed as she looked at the page, "H...He's right!"

"Let's hurry and fly the coop!"

"Aye! Bon Clay-sama!" his crew shouted.

"To the east!" Nami ordered.

"The east?" Bon Clay asked.

"Noon at the eastern harbor...we have an appointment," Robin informed.

"Hm?" Bon looked at her.

"We don't have time to go around, so we have to dash through," Nami added.

"We're going there to pick up our friend if she wants to be picked up," Luffy added.

That sold it for Mr. 2. They were going to see their nakama, so he had to do what was right in his mind! Minutes later, Black Cage Hina was livid as her intended targets turned out to be fakes with Straw Hat Luffy being Bon Clay. It only grew worse when a red energy shot slammed into her ship's keel and began to sink it. X smiled from the crow's nest as his buster changed back into a hand.

"I'll need some time to recharge!" X shouted down to the crew, "Mr. Usopp, thanks for the calculation on the needed angle for that shot for me!"

"No problem!" Usopp gave a thumbs up as they waved to Bon Clay and his crew while they made their escape in the distraction.

 _'Even if I go astray as a man… Even if I go astray as a woman…'_ Bon Clay thought as he posed on the back of his ship, his back towards the Going Merry, _'I can't go astray as a person! If we are to fall, we'll fall together into the true sky. If we are to fall, let it be in the sea...The flower of friendship… is rejoicing… I'll make it bloom… Oh, come my way (Okama Way)! By… Bon Clay.'_

"Bon-chan! We'll never forget you!" Luffy sobbed with Usopp and Chopper as the two ships separated.

* * *

"Look! The east coast!" Roll shouted.

"On the shore!" Usop called out, looking out with his goggles.

=I recently...went on a little adventure…= Vivi's voice echoed all over from the speakers on all parts of the island =It was a journey...to cross the dark sea in search of 'despair.' After I left the country, I saw such a vast sea=

"Oh! Vivi-chan looks so beautiful~!" Sanji swooned as Vivi was wearing a white and gold dress with a violet cape.

=And on that sea, I found unbelievable, thriving islands...Creatures I had never seen before...Sceneries I could barely consider real...At times, the melody of the waves was quiet...swaying gently, as if easing my small worries…= X swore he heard a sad piano music start playing at that point =Other times, the melody was violent...laughing at me, as if it would tear apart my weak heart...In that dark, dark storm, I encountered a single, small, ship. The ship said to me, while pushing onwards… 'Can't you see that light?' This wondrous ship, which never lost its way even in darkness, danced its way across the huge waves=

"It's Merry~!" Chopper sobbed, "She's talking about Merry~~~!"

=The ship didn't fight the sea, but its stem was pointed straight ahead, even during a headwind. And the ship pointed and said, 'Look! There's a light!' History will soon call this an illusion, but to me, it is the only truth. And...=

"Oi, this is bad! More Marine ships are heading this way!" Usopp informed.

"Just how many ships are there?!" Zoro demanded.

"Six," X noted, his eyes closed as he hacked the lone satellite in space once more.

"Dammit! We're gonna sail out now!" Zoro ordered.

"But Vivi's right there!" Roll argued.

=I came to say Goodbye!=

"What did she just…?" Luffy questioned.

=I can't...go with you! Thank you so much for everything! I'd like to go on more adventures, but there's no ignoring...that I love this country!= Vivi informed =So I can't go!=

"Vivi…" Roll whispered.

=I...I...I...I will remain here...but if we ever meet again some day…=

"She's crying," X whispered before noticing everyone but Robin, himself, and Roll jump onto the railing, backs facing Vivi.

=...will you call me your friend again?!=

"Raise them!" Luffy ordered.

As one, they rolled up their left sleeves and held their fists into the air, exposing a black 'X' on the back of their left arms. Vivi and the horse-sized duck beside her held their left limbs up as well, showing their black X marks as well.

"Do any of you get this?" Roll whispered.

"From what I can tell, the 'x' they have on their arms means their bond," Robin guessed.

"Set sail!" Luffy roared out as cannonballs rained down on them.

* * *

"Looks like the Navy stopped following us," Zoro examined.

"Hmm…"

"Hmm…"

"Hmm…"

"The satellite I managed to hack into shows them going to the south of us," X added.

"Hmm…"

"Hmm…"

"Hmm…"

"We did shake them off, right?!" Zoro growled a little, earning more sad moans, "You know...What's with those indifferent replies…?"

"I believe that's why, Swordsman-san," Robin, smiling, noted as she pointed at the second floor of the deck, where everyone but Zoro and the trio of newcomers were sticking their heads and arms out of the spaces in the railing, all looking sadly at a spot beside Chopper.

"I miss her!" all five sobbed.

"Don't be whiny!" Zoro snapped, "If you wanted her to stay with us that badly, you should've taken her by force!"

"Ah! So cruel!" Roll exclaimed in shock.

"We could have done that?" X asked in confusion.

"No!" Roll snapped as she whapped X on the head with her broom.

"Ahh! You're such a savage!" Chopper exclaimed in his tears, glaring at Zoro with everyone.

"You're the worst!" Nami added.

"Marimo," Sanji stated.

"Santoryu (Three-Sword Style)..."

"Oi, matte, Luffy," Usopp frowned, "'Santoryu' isn't an insult."

"Yontoryu (Four-Sword Style)..."

"You just increased it by one. The number isn't exactly the problem…" Usopp informed, "Listen. You know _natto_ , right? Even if you call natto rotten, it wouldn't..." he then screamed, "That's right! We still need to do that!"

"What's 'that?'" Roll asked.

"Interviews!" Usopp informed, "We had to delay them since Luffy was out of it for three days!"

"..." X quickly looked up the definition, "...I thought we were already allowed to join."

"It's a formal passage," Usopp informed, "I had to convince Luffy to do this since he keeps inviting everyone left and right it seems."

Minutes laters, Luffy and Chopper were watching a sprouted limb on the deck. They moved their upper bodies that they followed the hand part of it as the arm bent back. Once the knuckles were on the ground, a second pair of hands appeared and lightly made the two fall over. The two began to laugh happily before Chopper froze when he saw Robin, wearing a modest violet blouse and purple slacks, looking at him from the table Usopp had pulled out for him, X, Roll, and Robin. Chopper yelped before trying to hide behind Luffy in the peeking position. Only...it was in reverse with his body peeking out. Roll giggled at the reindeer's antics.

"Pay attention!" Usopp barked, "Answer my questions honestly! I'll ask the list one more time since two of you didn't seem to pay attention to me. What are your names?!" he then seemed to realize something and quickly corrected his sitting position, "Ah...I'm Usopp. Nice to meet you. Yeah, nice to meet you."

"Hikari D. X."

"Hikari D. Roll."

"Nico Robin."

"Okay, then, X, Roll, Nico Robin, what are your occupations?"

"Unknown at the moment," X stated.

"Nurse in training," Roll informed.

"..." Still smiling, Robin replied with, "An archaeologist."

"An archaeologist?!" Usopp repeated in surprise.

"Hai. If it wasn't for her, Nii-chan and I wouldn't be here," Roll informed before frowning, _'And I wouldn't know that Father...did this...'_

"I come from a long line of archaeologists," Robin informed.

"Hmm...I see...That kind of family, huh?" Usopp wrote it down on one of the three sheets.

"I became an archaeologist and then was turned into a wanted criminal. That was when I was eight. sInce then, I've spent the past twenty years hiding from the world.

"S...Since you were eight…?" Usopp asked, "Be yourself all this time?"

"But then, there was no way for a child to be able to survive alone on the sea," Robin continued, "So, in the end, in order to protect myself and in order to achieve my goal, I've chosen to follow various rogues...So that's how it was."

"So does that mean that Crocodile was just another rogue to you?"

"Yeah, I guess...in order to get closer to the **Rio Poneglyph** …"

 _'Rio…?'_ Usopp, Roll, and X thought.

"Thanks to that, I've become good at doing things behind the scenes. I'm sure I'll be able to help you all as well."

"Oh…? You're full of confidence," Usopp noted before him before looking at Roll, "You said you were a Nurse in training, right?"

"Yes," Roll nodded, "I really want to just help cure people and animals. After all, one of the first lessons I learned is that there is a cure for nearly all diseases."

"Why nearly all?" Usopp asked.

"...Death can't be cured," Roll replied after a few moments, "Even robots die. And…"

"Ah! Gomen, gomen!" Usopp apologized as he saw Roll starting to tear up, "X-san, why do you not know?"

"I...am unsure what I was designed for," X admitted as Roll facepalmed.

"I thought you seemed too sleepy that day," Roll muttered before looking at Usopp, "Let me explain, please. Papa created X to be the first of a new generation of robots, ones that could think and make their own decisions without programming limitations nor have the Three Laws put into them. Due to this, there was a slight fear that since Nii-chan didn't have any moral programming to dictate his morality or actions, he could become a grave threat to the world."

 _'That explains why they call Pluton the 'Island Destroyer,''_ Robin thought.

"Eh?!" Luffy, Chopper, and Usopp exclaimed in shock.

"Which is why X, and apparently myself, was sealed into a special capsule that would test his systems in a myriad of scenarios designed to ensure that X would be able to discern right from wrong and be always willing to do the right thing."

"So would the right thing mean turning in pirates?" Chopper asked.

"...I don't see a reason to turn anyone here in," X noted, "You all seem like good people and reindeer."

"Urusei!" Chopper barked as he began his silly dance once more, "J-Just because you're calling me good doesn't mean I like it, asshole!"

Roll giggled at Chopper's dance before continuing, "The process should have only taken thirty years, but considering how long we were in there…"

"The World Nobles declared that any and all research on the Poneglyphs like you two were in was banned," Robin informed with a straight face, "Anyone who tries is immediately set to be hunted down and killed."

"What?!" Roll exclaimed.

"..." X frowned.

Usopp cleared his throat, "As...As much as I want to know as well, I still don't understand what X's role could be for this crew."

"Papa made X with just one thing in mind; for the people of the future and being a guide to peace and happiness."

"A priest then?" Usopp asked as Zoro snorted nearby, resting against the mast.

"Well...Whenever we talked about religion, people sometimes gave the family funny looks."

"Why?" Usopp asked, looking at Roll when she said that.

"Well...The Light family always believed that God...is a girl," Roll informed.

"A _woman_ is _Kami-sama_?!" Sanji's voice shouted from the kitchen in joy, "Mellorine~!"

"Well, you've got someone converted with just that sentence," Usopp sweatdropped.

"An...Anyways, X was designed with 'limitless potential.' I don't really get it since Papa normally did the more complex stuff when I had to do other things like make a meal for him or ready another set of shots for his illness at the time," Roll continued.

"Again?!" Nami's voice groaned, making them look over at the entrance to the women's quarters to see Nami walk out with a small box, "Usopp!"

"The music box again?" Usopp asked.

"..." X walked over and looked it over, "I think I can help."

X walked back to the table and put the box down before him. Part of the armor on his left arm opened, exposing small tools. Picking one up, X slowly opened it up by removing the screws. Looking inside, X looked around before taking another tool out. After a few minutes, X closed it up and gave it to Nami.

"There. I managed to rewound the springs that were bent out of shape by constant use," X informed, "It should work as good as it did when you first got it."

Nami raised a brow before opening the top. The ballerina that popped up once the box opened began to spin as the soft melody began to play from it. She slowly closed it with a small smile.

"You're quite the handyman," Nami noted before kissing X's cheek and making the robot blush heavily, "Thanks."

"Um...N-No problem…"

"Okay. So I should write down 'Handyman,' yes?" Usopp whispered to Roll.

"Seems like it," Roll nodded.

"Okay. So since X is good at being someone with 'unlimited potential,' what about you two?" Usopp asked as he wrote down X's role for the crew.

"Taking care of others and cleaning," Roll informed.

"..." Robin smiled softly as she put her cheek in her right hand, "Assassination."

"Luffy!" Usopp tilted his head back towards the captain, his eyes blank with tears going to his lips, "This investigation has concluded that Nico Robin is too dangerous!"

"I think they're a little busy right now," Roll giggled as she watched Luffy and Chopper being tickled by Robin's sprouted arms.

"Are you guys listening?!" Usopp demanded, eyes blank and teeth shark-like.

"By the way, how did Robin convince Nami?" Usopp asked, "I thought you'd be out here to put her two cents in, but…"

"I spoke with her the other day," Nami informed, her eyes berri signs, "Onee-sama gave me a few jewels she swiped from Crocodile!"

"Oi, oi, oi, oi, oi…" Usopp and Zoro swatted the air before them in annoyance.

"Nami's been suckered…" Usopp whispered to Zoro.

"That's an evil trick," Zoro frowned.

"She said she's been around a lot of seedy groups," Roll noted, standing between them, "So it shouldn't be a surprise that she did something like that. Also...Is Nami-san always like that?"

"She's a damn witch is what she is," Zoro muttered as Sanji slid down the stair railing behind Robin, carrying two plates and two drinks.

"Oh, love...Floating love…" Sanji spoke as he made a small dance around the table, X swearing he was hearing something like soft jazz play complete with finger snaps and saxophone, "I'm a driftwood that just lays its burnt-to-a-crisp body in that stream…"

"Is _that_ normal?" Roll asked with a sweatdrop.

"I'm driftwood that has been struck by the thunderbolt that is your beauty and caught in a raging torrent…"

"Pretty much," the two replied with deadpan looks before Sanji put a plate and drink before Robin and offered the other two to Roll, "Snack for you both."

"Oh, arigatou," Robin thanked.

"Um...Thanks?" Roll sweatdropped as she took the chocolate cake and tea from Sanji.

"And his reaction is no surprise," Zoro muttered.

"Yeah...We just have to consider that he was a lost cause from the start involving the two new girls…" Usopp added.

"In any case...Now that it's come to this, the two of us original crewmates are the last holdouts," Zoro scowled, standing firm.

"So I guess we'll have to prove to you we can be good for the ship, right?" Roll asked.

"Yes," Usopp nodded, "The others are so simple-minded, or should I say lax."

"Oi, Usopp, Roll!" the two turned, the girl putting her plate and drink down on a barrel beside her, to see that Luffy had made his eyes large and round like Chopper's eyes, made a kitty-like face from his lips, and had a pair of Robin's arms growing out of the sides of his hat, "Chopper!"

"..." Roll held her stomach as she began to laugh as Chopper was slamming the floor with his hooves while Usopp began to laugh so hard he was crying.

Zoro groaned as he walked off. X got up and followed the swordsman. The marimo stopped once he was near the front of the ship, looking out at the sea ahead. X looked at the figurehead and had to admit that he liked the little lamb theme it had.

"Try not to sit on it. That's Luffy's special seat," X looked over at Zoro.

X nodded before bowing, "It is nice to work with you."

"Heh," Zoro smirked, "You were pretty good that day."

"?"

"How did you climb up that wall without anything but jumps?" Zoro asked.

"My gloves and the soles of my boots are designed to create strong friction on certain surfaces, letting me do a kick jump up vertical surfaces," X informed, "I could try to make you a pair of boots if you want."

"Nah," Zoro shrugged, "But...You seem strong. When we get to the next island, I want to spar with you on it."

"Spar?" X repeated while he tilted his head.

"Yeah," X did not like that glint Zoro had in his eyes before they heard footsteps.

"This ship is nice...Is it always like this?" Robin asked as she walked over.

"Yeah...It is," Zoro replied.

"I see…" Zoro blinked twice at the smile she gave him before she walked off.

 _'What is that woman up to…?'_ Zoro thought.

"By the way, Navigator-san...Is it smooth sailing right now?" Robin asked.

"Wind, weather...Both no problem!" Nami replied, "It's going very smoothly, Onee-sama!"

"You definitely got jewelry from her, didn't you?!" Zoro demanded.

"Sanji! Isn't our snack ready?" Luffy asked.

"Just hold on a sec!"

"I'm hungry!" Luffy complained.

"Me too! Me too! Me too!" Usopp and Chopper childishly agreed.

"Okay, okay. Just hold on a sec!"

* * *

 **Yes, I went with Megaman X Command Mission for X's design, but I think the design is cooler than any other basic armor we've seen him with!**


	2. Journey to Sky Island: Part 1

**Chapter 2: Journey to Sky Island: Part 1**

* * *

"...I am not sure about these repairs," X admitted as he put the last bolt into place.

"It's fine, it's fine. Merry's the greatest ship in all the seas, after all," Usopp assured near the reattached mast.

"Poor little Merry-chan," Roll sighed as she polished one of the railings, "She looks like she's been through so much..."

"As long as her keel doesn't break, Going Merry will stay true to your word, Usopp-san," X noted before hearing Luffy scream out in shock, "And there goes the mousetrap."

"You actually made it?!" Usopp gawked.

"He asked for a human-sized mousetrap. After seeing captain Luffy's...eating habits...I agreed," X replied.

"AND STAY OUT!" Sanji's voice roared before Luffy shot out of the doorway, a large mousetrap stuck to the rubber captain.

"Oh sweet Kami-sama!" Roll gasped as she ran over to Luffy, "Uh...um...Okay, let's see…" she poked a piece of the contraption and yelped when another clamp came out and truck Luffy, "Oh my goodness!"

"..." X opened his mouth.

"X!" Roll snapped, whipping her broom out.

"..." X closed his mouth and put Usopp between him and her, "He did it."

"OI!" Usopp snapped, eyes blank and teeth shark-like.

Roll sighed in annoyance, "Just get him out of this thing. I think it just cut off his oxygen supply."

"AH! LUFFY!" Usopp freaked as he began to struggle to open it.

"Red button near the back," X informed.

"Eh?" Usopp paused before finding the button, "Ah. Arigatou."

Usopp pressed the button and the device collapsed into a standard-sized mousetrap...while Luffy was sent into the air.

"YAHOOOOO!" Luffy cheered.

"X...You are reworking that thing. _Now_ ," Roll growled.

X nodded as he picked up the trap and walked off to fix it. It had been around a week or so since they had come onto the caravel. It had taken a few tries, but Roll believed that (most of) the crew understood just what she and her younger brother were. X had taken his new job seriously, often building things or repairing them for everyone while she often spent time with him, explaining things the others couldn't really understand, or with Chopper, often just talking about medicine and treatments and just general things the others in the crew most likely wouldn't understand or fall asleep listening to...which Roll learned after her first time explaining that she and X were highly-advanced robots and some of their inner workings made Luffy and Zoro collapse into sleep, steam literally coming out of the captain's head.

"Hey, X, you think you and I could make those things into the size of one of my pachinko balls or an egg?" Usopp asked as Luffy ran back into the kitchen, "I think I could use these as shots against stronger pirates or marines as a distraction like my Tamago Boshi or my caltrops."

X smiled a little with a nod, closing his eyes for a few moments, before he tensed and looked up, "Something's coming. Usopp-san, do we have any type of propulsion system on Going Merry?"

"Just the wind. Why?" Usopp asked.

"Were we able to repair the oars?" X asked quickly, grabbing his shoulders to look him in the eyes.

"Y-Yeah," Usopp replied, "Wh…?"

"Zoro! Get the paddles! We need to move approximately twenty-seven knots to starboard!" X called out as he ran off.

"..." Usopp looked at Roll, "Is X okay?"

"I think so. He must have seen something with that satellite," Roll noted.

"I still don't believe you on this metal thing orbiting the planet that X can use to see the surface," Usopp sweatdropped.

"It's true!" Roll growled a little in annoyance before something hit her nose, "Ah!"

"Roll-chan~! Are you okay?" Sanji called out, poking his head out of the kitchen, Luffy's head in one arm as he was giving the top a fierce grinding with his hand's knuckles..

"I'm fine!" Roll replied as X and Zoro ran to the sides of the ship and put the oars in the water, "Something just hit my nose, but I don't know what it was."

"Man...Why are we doing this?" Zoro scowled.

"Because I do not want to test my aquatic capabilities in sea rescues," X informed before pointing towards Merry's starboard, "We need to row in that direction. If you row in the other direction, I will inform Nami to increase your debt to twice your current amount."

"Gh?!" Zoro tensed, "Y-You wouldn't dare…!"

"Nami has informed me to do so if it is needed," X informed before pointing to starboard once more, "Now row that way."

"Grrrrrrr… 'Meant to help humanity,' my ass…." Zoro grumbled as he began to row in the right direction for once.

"X! Zoro!" Nami shouted as she ran outside, "What are you two doing?!"

"A ship is falling," X informed as strange black materials began to fall from the sky.

"What are you talking a...Is this that 'sat-eel-light' thing you were talking about?!" Nami demanded.

"Satellite," Roll corrected, "And most likely."

"Zoro! We're at a safe distance," X informed, "Stop rowing!"

"Ugh! Row, don't row. Make up your mind!"

Just as they stopped rowing, it happened. A galleon proceeded to crash into the ocean upside-down from the sky. Everyone slowly looked at X in shock.

"Like Nii-san said; he has a satellite in space to give us some warning on incoming things, aside from the weather since Nami-Neechan is that," Roll giggled.

"What?! What is it?! What is it?!" Nami demanded in shock.

"Why the heck did a ship fall from the sky?!" Luffy demanded.

"I knew coming to the Grand Line was a mistake, it freaks me out!" Usopp cried out, still hugging Chopper—his eyes twitching so much that it looked as if he was having a seizure, "First we travel over a ship graveyard and now they're falling out of the sky!"

Nearby, Nami gasped in horror. She was staring at the Log Pose, unable to believe what she was seeing. The needle was pointing right at the ky.

"What is this?!" Nami demanded.

"It looks like it's pointing at the sky," Roll noted as she looked at the Log Pose.

"Could it be that island I saw in the clouds with the satellite?" X pondered.

"Like Mr. Handyman says; it's not broken," Robin agreed, as if things fell from the sky all the time on them, "The **Log Pose** registers an island with a strong magnetic pull and the needle is reflecting that. If the needle's pointing to the sky," they all looked to her as she focused her attention skyward, "Then… it must be pointing to **Sky Island**."

"SKY ISLAND?!" they all repeated loudly, none of them having ever heard of such a thing.

"What's that?" Nami asked.

"A floating island?!" Luffy asked in glee.

"Oh wow~!" Roll awed, "It must be like the legendary **Laputa**!"

"D-Did that ship fall from there?" Usopp gulped nervously.

"But I can't see anything like an island in the sky," Zoro noted, crossing his arms over his torso.

"Hmm, that's not actually how it works," Robin answered, "It's not an island above us, but an entire ocean."

"An entire ocean?!" Roll exclaimed, "X-Niichan! Did you finish making that screen with Usopp-san?"

"We're still building it," X replied.

"It's really complicated," Usopp nodded.

"Drat," Roll pouted, "I was hoping to get to see what you can with it, X-Niichan…"

"I'm getting more and more confused," Sanji muttered.

"Yaay! There's a sea with an island floating in the sky?!" Luffy cheered, pointing at the sky, "Yosh! Let's head there right away!"

"Oi, minna! Turn the rudder upwards!" Usopp added.

"That's not how a ship works," Roll sweatdropped, "Though, we could get a plane or a helicopter."

"What're those?" Sanji asked.

"Flying ships in a way."

"…There are flying ships?" Sanji asked.

"Possibly from when Roll and X are from," Robin replied.

 _'Good lord, they don't have planes or helicopters here!'_ Roll thought in shock.

"Upwards rudder full!" Luffy and Usopp declared together, arms over each other's shoulder until Luffy was on the ground, Robin's grown arms shutting his mouth, while Usopp began to cry into his arm.

"In any case, you can't turn upwards, Captain," Sanji informed.

"To be honest, I've never seen the sky island, nor do I know much about it," Robin added.

"Luffy-san, if we run into someone who is looking for evidence and has spent years trying to find it, may I show them the proof once Usopp and I get this device we're working on finished?" X asked as Luffy's mouth finally got uncovered.

"Fine," Luffy pouted, "But you can't show me, okay? I want to see it myself before looking at it like you can, X. Captain's orders."

"Thank you, Captain," X nodded, smiling softly at him.

"I still don't believe you two. It's impossible for an island or a sea to float in the air!" Nami argued, "So the Log Pose must really be broken!"

"Not quite, Miss Navigator," Robin countered coolly as she pointed to the Log Pose, "You're trying to fix something that's not even broken. We should be trying to find a way to get to Sky Island. You really need to learn to trust your instruments. No matter how crazy things get, or how weird the situation is we find ourselves in, never doubt the Log Pose. This is an ironclad rule on the Grand Line." Nami began to look at her Log Pose once more, X and Roll also looking at it, "What we should be doubting… is the common sense we all that that tells us that an island cannot exist in the sky, on an ocean of nothing. That needle is pointing towards an island, I bet my life on it."

"…Hold on. We're missing someone," Zoro noticed, "Where's Luffy and Usopp?"

"Jump, Luffy!"

"Okay!"

"HOW'D THEY GET OVER THERE SO FAST?!" Roll exclaimed in shock before X pointed at the rowboat near the wreckage.

"What're they doing now?" Zoro groaned.

"Must be exploring," Chopper noted, staying behind the mast, as Robin began to go through a book.

"Here it is. Based on the figurehead, it's the 'St. Briss' of Briss, a kingdom in the South Blue," Robin informed, "It set sail 208 years ago and it is the same ship that has fallen here."

"Amazing~" Roll awed.

"This ship probably wandered in the sky for at least 200 years," Robin noted.

"You can find out all that just by looking at some books?" Nami asked.

"If I had a skeleton, I could also provide more information, such as any physical things like an old way of removing tumors in the brain or how old they were when they died. In this case, if we found a crew member's skeleton from this ship, I could tell that they were from the South Blue because of the condition of their teeth."

"Their teeth?"

"South Blue residents practice putting tar in their teeth to keep them in better condition," Robin informed.

"I see," Roll nodded before it registered, "TAR?! Ugh! That...That does more harm than any good for people!"

"Dead people may not speak, but they do hold information," Robin informed, "Even artifacts and abandoned ships have this method. If this was an exploration vessel, then it should still hold various records and evidence."

"Yeah…but the ship sank in the sea…" Nami started to say before she saw Luffy drowning, "WHAT'RE YOU GUYS DOING?!"

"Luffy! Hang in there!" Usopp shouted, standing on one of the few remaining things still floating.

"Help me!" Luffy gurgled out.

X was the fastest in reacting to the situation. Before anyone could move, X was instantly jumping into the water. Upon splashdown, he began to quickly swim towards the drowning captain. He broke the surface, Luffy on his back. The straw hat captain began to gasp loudly for air while coughing out water. Minutes later, Usopp, X, and Luffy were back on the ship.

"Heh…Heh…Oi, minna!" Luffy shouted, "I did it! I found something incredible!" he pulled out a, surprisingly, dry map from his vest and opened it, "Look at it!"

"Ah!" nearly everyone gasped.

"A map of the sky island?!" Usopp, Chopper, and Roll exclaimed.

"' **Skypeia** ,'" X noted the name on the map.

"See? See?" Luffy beamed excitedly as Nami looked at the map.

"Does this mean that there's really an island in the sky?!" Nami asked.

"It looks like it," Robin noted.

"Yahoo!" Usopp, Luffy, Roll, and Chopper cheered as the Baka Trio began to do a silly can-can dance, Chopper sitting on Luffy and Usopp's shoulders.

"Alright! The Sky Island exists! It's a dream island!" Luffy cheered.

"We can go to a dream island!" Usopp agreed.

"A dream island!-!" the trio cheered.

"Don't get so carried away! This only means it might be possible," Nami sighed, "There're tons of fake maps out there."

"What?!" Roll exclaimed in shock as the Baka Trio looked as if they were about to cry.

"Er…Sorry! It exists! I'm sure it exists, demo…" she began to growl as she slammed a fist into the mast, "Listen, Luffy! I'm telling you…"

"Uhm, Nami-san, please treat the ship with care," Usopp advised, but was ignored.

"…we don't know how to get there!"

"You're the navigator! Figure something out!" Luffy barked.

"There are some things you can't just 'figure out,' you know!"

"Nami-swan's Kawaii when she's angry, too," Sanji swooned.

"I don't care! We're going to the sky!-!"

"How is your smoke pink and shaped like hearts?" Roll raised a brow before Nami slammed her fist on Luffy's head.

"This is getting us nowhere. In any case, we can't move the ship forward this way!" Nami informed, "What we need now is information, as Robin said."

"There may be records on it in the ship," X noted, "With the right diving equipment, we could go down there."

"Yosha!" Usopp and Luffy cheered, holding a fishing pole and a bug net respectively.

"I don't think either of those will work for our situation…" Roll sweatdropped.

"What's salvage?" Chopper asked innocently.

"It means to pull up a sunken ship," Robin informed, "But it won't work, since that ship is too big for Going Merry."

"It was a good practice back in the time I knew," Roll added, "Around the first few years I was living, Papa figured out a way to bring up a massive ship known as the 'Titanic' from the bottom of the ocean without causing anymore damages to it."

"Titanic?" Nami repeated.

* * *

"Hah-hah-hah! Well, well…You really make us do reckless things," Luffy beamed, currently in a diving suit made from a barrel and fabrics.

"Eh," Zoro snorted in his own, only his didn't have the extra barrel on the lower half of the body.

"Nami-swan! I'll be sure to find a clue to the sky!" Sanji declared in the last one, set up like Zoro's.

"X, why aren't you getting into yours?" Nami asked.

A guard covered everything but his eyes on his face, "This is designed to let me breathe underwater."

"SUGOI~!" Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper exclaimed, stars in their eyes.

"These guys are easily awed," Roll giggled.

"Easily? Hmph! Roll, I know you're a robot, but you're still a girl," Usopp huffed.

"Excuse me?" Roll's eye twitched.

"Robots...are a Man's Romance!" Usopp declared.

"Sugei~!" Luffy and Chopper awed before Roll whacked all three.

"JUST GET GOING!" Roll barked.

"I'm counting on you all!" Nami informed with a smile.

"Worry not, there are no defects in the designs X and I made!" Usopp assured, "And if there's a problem, X is down there to help, too!"

"Then, I wish you…good luck!" Nami declared.

"Yosha!" Luffy cheered before the four jumped into the water, three tubes connecting the three humans to the surface.

"This is Chopper. Everyone, please respond," Chopper requested in his larger form, helping with slowly lowering them deeper.

=This is Luffy! There're tons of monsters down here, over=

=Is this a giant sea snakes' nest?= Zoro pondered.

=This is Sanji. Whoa! They looked this way!=

=Ah! OI, X! Don't scare them off with that! I wanted to get one to eat!= Luffy whined.

"Okay," Nami nodded.

"OKAY?!" Usopp freaked, his eyes bulging out and his teeth pointy.

"They'll survive. Don't worry!" Nami replied.

"They have X-Niichan with them, too," Roll added.

"Chopper, hold the brake tight, okay?" Nami ordered.

"Okay!" Chopper replied.

"Phew…I'm glad I didn't go," Usopp sighed in relief.

* * *

 _'Seems good so far,'_ X thought as they landed on one of the broken halves before he noticed a group of men already on it, _'Or not.'_ X grabbed Luffy's shoulder and Zoro's leg as they started to head for them, _'They seem to be setting up something. Are they trying to raise the ship as well?'_

X swam over to them after motioning for Sanji to stop the other two. The men were glaring at X as he stopped before them. Giving a small wave, he began to pantomime that he wanted to help. After a few moments, the men nodded, tossing X one of the hooks they had. Nodding, X went off in the direction one of the men pointing for him to attach it. After a few more minutes, X, Zoro, Sanji, and Luffy waved to the men as they swam to the surface. Sanji looked over at X, a confused look on his face. X shrugged.

They proceeded to go off in different directions. Luffy picked up a strange vase-like item before it crumbled to pieces in his hands. He began to make funny face at a mirror before he spotted something in the wreckage behind him sticking out. Pulling it out, Luffy tilted his head in confusion. It seemed to be some sort of mini-ship, maybe only good for one person. Nearby, Zoro found a set of swords. He struggled with one, trying to pull the blade out, but only got the handle and guard out, revealing the blade itself had completely rusted. X picked a lock and opened it, letting Sanji go in first. The two began to examine the room before Sanji pulled out an old picture of a woman, smiling. X examined the nearby skeletons, noticing not a single one died peacefully, but murdered with spear-like weapons. A hand tapping his shoulder made him look to see Luffy. The captain pointed near X, making him look to spot an old treasure chest. X crushed the old lock and Zoro opened it, revealing nothing inside but a feather. Zoro picked it up and only X was curious about why a feather was in there. Luffy…Luffy began to cheer as he spotted an old suit of armor nearby. The ship rumbled and X swam out a hole in the top to see a giant mechanical monkey had connected to a banana connected to the hooks he had helped installed. In the vessel, the hooks began to release air into the ship, pushing the water out. X nearly fell over when the ship began to rise up. X reentered the ship as the trio got out of their suits. Men in iron diving suits entered.

"More men?" X asked, "Are you part of the men who I helped install those hooks for?"

"Oh! You're the guy who helped them?" one of the divers asked.

"Yes. We were looking around in here, trying to find evidence for a place called Sky Island considering that it fell from the sky," X noted, "All we want is that information so we can go up there. Your crew may have everything else."

"You're looking for Sky Island too?!" the men asked.

"Seems we're in agreement," X noted, "Captain?"

"Yeah," Luffy nodded, "Oi! What's going on? Why are we rising?"

"Captain **Masira** is raising the ship as we speak," another informed.

"Oi, Boss! Come down!" a third spoke, but not to them, "We have some guys who want to meet you!"

"It's amazing that they pumped in this much air," Zoro examined.

"That's our Boss for ya!" the first man beamed, "He's got _huge_ lungs!"

"Something must have happened to Nami-swan, Robin-chwan, and Roll-chan," Sanji noted.

"You mean those girls on the smaller ship?" the second asked, "Oh, they're fine. They're watching us from their ship on how we're raising this one up to salvage it."

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU, INVADING MY TURF?!" a voice roared while a nearby wall exploded.

Everyone turned to see a large man resembling a primate of sorts. He wore torn yellow coveralls and a brown shirt. His head had headphones over the ears and had a monkey-like face. On the front of his coveralls was a picture of a monkey's face with the word 'MASIRA' above it.

"Hm? Oh, it's a monkey," Luffy noted.

"What?" the man began to grin bashfully, "Am I that monkeyful?"

"Yeah, you're an imitation monkey," Luffy pointed out.

"What kind of conversation is that?" Zoro asked.

"What do you mean?" Luffy asked.

"By the way, who are you?" Sanji asked.

"This is our Boss, Masira!" the third man informed.

"Do you really think so? You have a good eye!" Masira continued to talk to just Luffy.

"So who the hell are you?!" Zoro asked.

"I believe that Who is on first," X attempted to joke.

* * *

"I hope X-Niisan is doing okay," Roll whispered before the sea started to rumble between the two ships (the Going Merry and a massive monkey-themed ship).

"Hey, underneath the ship…" Nami began.

"Y-Yeah…There's something down there," Usopp gulped.

"I…I think it's a giant turtle," Roll squeaked out, noticing how the shadow below them resembled the head of a massive turtle, easily bigger than the two ships combined.

* * *

"I see! You guys came from the East Blue, huh?!" Masira beamed.

"Yeah. But really, you look just like a monkey!" Luffy replied.

"Quit complimenting me!" Masira laughed, all the men now without their suits while Zoro had a tiny squid on his shoulder.

"Um…Everyone?" X gulped as he looked out a window, "Something's about to eat the ship."

"Huh?" one of the crewmates of Masira's looked out, "Huh. Something's about to eat the ship."

"Something's about to eat the ship?" Sanji and the second diver asked together.

A giant turtle ate the ship. It proceeded to surface and everyone on the ships screamed.

"WHAT IS THIS?! WHAT IS THIS THING?!" Nami screamed loudest.

"Looks like a turtle if you ask me," Roll noted.

"WHY ARE YOU SO CALM?!" Nami barked.

"Because I've seen turtles this big before when…when Rock-Nii and Blues-Nii were still around…" Roll's body slumped a bit near the end as she tried to avoid eye contact with the navigator.

Nami winced. Despite it being who knows how long those two were in stasis (as Robin and Chopper both told her from what X and Roll informed of how they lived for so long), it was only a bit of time since Roll had lost her brothers to the young gynoid (She was so glad Roll decided to explain a bit about robotics to everyone, even if Zoro and Luffy passed out into dreamland after the first five sentences [half a sentence for Luffy] and nearly everyone got headaches from the technical jargon).

"The cables and air pipes from our ships are coming out of that turtle's mouth," Robin noted, "Hmm...seems they were all eaten."

"DON'T SAY IT LIKE THAT!" Usopp screamed.

"WAAAAH! LUFFY AND THE OTHERS WERE EATEN ALIVE?!" Chopper freaked out in Brain Point, running around in circles.

"I-I know they'll be okay!" Roll gulped, sweating a bit, _'Please be okay. Please be okay. Please be okay…'_

"IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT! YOU TOLD THEM TO GO TO THE BOTTOM OF THE GRAND LINE! YOU SAID IT WAS GOING TO BE OKAY WITHOUT PROOF!" Usopp ranted at Nami.

"...Yeah," Nami sighed before shouting to the turtle, "Sorry!"

Usopp and Roll facefaulted as Nami was satisfied.

"Roll...Nami is so unrepentant…" Usopp sniffled.

"Hai…" Roll agreed, tears welling in her eyes, before Merry was tugged.

"It seems if we do not cut off the air pipes, we will be pulled underwater along with the boat," Robin observed.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Nami, Chopper, and Usopp freaked.

"Robin! You're strong! DO SOMETHING!" Usopp pleaded.

"I can't. It's too big," Robin shrugged, "Ms. Nurse?"

"Normally, I'd say 'yes,' but…" Roll gulped as she looked between it and her broom, "...I normally have a bigger broom."

"Alright men! Get the ropes and rescue the captain! Show them the pride and fame of Masira's Pirates!"

"OKE! OKE! OOOOOK!"

"The captain is still alive!"

"OKE! OKE! OOOOOK!"

As the crew of Masira's ship was moving about, Usopp couldn't help but stare in awe, "...Thats right!"

"What's right?" Roll asked.

"This...This is just a test of our teamwork!" Usopp exclaimed.

"...Oh, I get it!" Roll beamed, "Right then! Let's save our crewmates and my little brother!"

"Cut those air pipes to ensure our safety!"

Usopp facefaulted, "YOU'RE A DEVIL WOMAN!"

"DEVIL!?-?!" Chopper freaked.

"Is...I feel like this is just normal with her...am I wrong?" Roll sweatdropped.

"Possibly," Robin merely smiled.

* * *

Luffy was coming to from where he lay on the deck, dripping wet and slowly getting back to his feet, dropping the large sack that was on his back. "Hey!" he called to them all, "When'd night happen?"

"Night didn't happen," X replied as he changed his arm/hand into its Buster and the charging energy illuminated the area, "We're in the giant turtle's mouth."

"WE GOT EATEN?!" Masira freaked.

"Second biggest turtle I've ever seen," Zoro noted, "Hey, Luffy, Robin never did tell us what happened to her turtle Bunchi, did she?"

"Nope!" Luffy replied.

"DON'T ACT SO CASUAL IN THIS SITUATION!" the crewmates of Masira in the turtle's mouth snapped.

"I have an idea," X informed before pointing at a dangling item near the back of the mouth, "Sanji, kick that."

"What is it?" Sanji asked as he lit his cigarette.

"The Uvula."

"The You-view-a?" Luffy pondered.

"Uvula. Kick that, Sanji, and we'll get out immediately," X stated.

Sanji nodded as he tapped the dec of the broken ship, "A quick kick then…X, get on my leg."

"...Pardon?" X blinked twice.

"Oh! Combo!" Luffy cheered as X walked over to Sanji.

"Why do I need to get on your…" X began before Sanji swung his leg and kicked him right at the uvula.

" **Armée de L'Air X Shoot**!" Sanji declared.

"...LEEEEEEEEEEEEG?!-!-!-!" X screamed before colliding with the uvula, accidentally firing his shot onto it as well.

"?!" the turtle's eyes watered before it threw up the ship and its lunch.

"Ew…" both crews cringed.

"Why did you kick him up there?" Zoro asked, surfacing with a semi-drowning Luffy.

"I AM NOT KICKING A SHITTY TURTLE'S UVULA!" Sanji barked.

"WHAT IS THAT, ANYWAY?!" Zoro snapped.

"WILL YOU GET ON THE SHIP FOR DECONTAMINATION ALREADY?!" Roll barked from Merry.

"CAP...CAPTAIN!-!-! DA...DANGER!-!-!" one of Masira's crewmates screamed as they were helping their crew get back on their ship.

"Huh? What?!" Masira demanded as he helped X get Luffy on the Merry.

"THAT!" Nami screamed as she pointed out ahead of them.

Masira's crew were all looking ready to cry just like Nami did as they pointed wildly behind them, too frozen to speak about what it was. When they all looked, Everyone except for X felt close to choking—feeling close to fainting at what they saw. Giants…at least five of them, so large that they were capable of blocking out the sun. Black as night, they towered over them as great as the sky—even the giant island turtle was tiny compared to them all, its body not even reaching their knees if it could stand on its hind legs. Each of them carried a spear and had wings on their backs. Almost like angels of death, they seemed to gaze upon them as if they were mere prey to them, though there were no eyes. Everyone was frozen in fear…even Robin was turning a shade of blue they had never seen from her before. X tilted his head, wondering how something so big could function. With bodies that large, their bodies should have started collapsing in on themselves and died due to their blood being affected by gravity and unable to reach vital areas in the upper body. The middle one raised its spear in a threatening manner.

"SSSEEEAAA MMMMMMMMOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNSSSSSSSSTTTTTTTTEEEEEEEERRRRRRSSSSSSSS!-!-!-!-!-!-!"

The Straw Hat Pirates immediately went into overdrive. Together, they broke out the paddles and began to paddle as fast as they could go to get away from the winged giants. It was as if they suddenly had a motor on their back and were going faster than ever before. Fear was the only thing that kept them going, and they didn't stop until they had reached the end of the dark sky and were safe in the bright sunlight. Once the danger had passed, they all huddled on the deck, shaking and trying to catch their breath.

"Th-those things were b-b-b-bigger than anything Dr. Wily ever m-m-m-m-made…" Roll whimpered in fetal position, her head on X's lap with her eyes wide with fright, "F-f-f-f-f-future world is a scary world…Where's a time machine when you need it?"

"...Impossible," Zoro stated.

"Yeah...nothing could be that big," Usopp gulped.

"Y-You're right," Roll nodded, "W-With bodies that big, th-they would've been d-dead or dying a long t-t-t-time ago."

"Oh! Because of their weight breaking their bodies and gravity making it nearly impossible for blood to flow properly, right?" Chopper guessed.

"R-right!" Roll nodded, "We might have just seen their shadows is all."

"Today has been a really weird day," Sanji noted as he fished out a dry cigarette and lit it.

"A galleon fell from the sky…" Zoro started the list, drying his swords.

"The Log Post keeps pointing up…" Nami added, her chin resting on her knees.

"The strange monkey appeared to salvage the ship…" Usopp went on, lying on the stairs.

"A giant sea turtle ate the ship…" Chopper noted.

"What happened to Bunchi?" Luffy and Zoro asked.

"The sky went black as a starless night…" Robin ignored them.

"Finally, giant monsters a hundred times bigger than regular giants showed up!" Luffy finished.

"Yup! That really scared me!"

"..." everyone looked over at Masira.

"Oh. It seems we brought you along by accident, Masira," X noted.

"Yep!" Masira grinned.

"My apologies," X apologized.

"Ah, don't worry. Just drop me off at **Jaya** near here and my crew will come pick me up," Masira grinned.

"HOW ARE YOU SO CALM?!" Usopp, Zoro, and Sanji barked at X.

"...I shouldn't be calm?" X tilted his head.

"No, no. You're doing good, X," Roll assured as she got up, "So where is Jaya?"

"Oh! That's easy!" Masira beamed before pulling out an hourglass with the inside replaced by a clear ball with a diamond that was half red and half blue in it, the red pointing in a direction, "I've got an Eternal Post for it!"

"An island," Zoro grinned as he looked over at X, "Oi. Remember what I said back at Alabasta, X. I want an all out spar against you."

X nodded, "Of course, Zoro."

"So did you find anything of use down there?" Roll asked.

"Use?" Masira repeated, "Oh yeah! You guys are looking for Sky Island, too!"

"Not another one…" Nami groaned as Luffy, Usopp, Chopper, and Masira started to talk excitedly about finding it.

* * *

"YOU SERIOUSLY ONLY BROUGHT JUNK UP?!" Nami roared, looking at the scattered opened bags.

"Don't be too sure of that, Ms. Navigator," Robin replied as she picked up one of the items, "There is much to be seen in all of this with just a little closer examination."

"That's true," Roll nodded, "Robin's an archaeologist. If anyone could figure out the story of all this, it'd most likely be her."

"Yosha!" Luffy cheered...wearing a suit of rusted armor.

"Luffy, why are you wearing that?" Sanji deadpanned.

"Hm?!" Luffy looked over at Sanji, "Because Armor is a Man's Romance!"

"Ah!" Usopp and Masira gasped, "A M-Man's Romance?!"

"...I am confused," X noted, "I thought Robots were a Man's Romance."

"Jus...Just ignore them," Nami sighed, nursing a headache, "Did you find ship logs, sea charts, or anything like that?"

"I'm not sure," X replied, "I did find that it seems that they were in a fierce battle, most likely against those who used spears as their primary weaponry."

"If that's so, then information is even more crucial than ever!" Nami scowled, "If we went into the sky right now, whatever happened on the St. Briss would befall us too."

X nodded with a frown, "Information is important when it comes to survival."

"Exactly," Nami nodded.

"Nami-swan~! I found a beautiful shell down there for you!" Sanji declared as he danced over, presenting a solid white shell to Nami.

"...There's a button on it," X noted.

"There's a button on the shell?" Nami asked as she picked it up.

Nami pressed the button and the railing beside her was suddenly sliced through, startling everyone.

"Wh-What?!" Nami yelped, dropping the shell before X caught it.

"It came from this," X observed, holding up the shell.

"Th...That looked like a blade made from pressurized air," Roll noted.

"When did shells become so dangerous?" Usopp shivered behind Sanji with Chopper.

"Oh! I've seen these things before!" Masira pointed out before pulling out a solid pink shell with a button, "See? My brother and I find these things in some of the boats we salvage. I like this one the best though!"

"Why?" Luffy asked.

"Push the button," Masira grinned.

"Okay!" Luffy beamed as he pressed it.

=That was easy=

"SUGEI!" Luffy exclaimed in awe "The shell talks!"

"SUGEI~!-!-!" Usopp and Chopper awed.

"Yep! I always press it whenever we do a successful job!" Masira grinned in pride, "Isn't it monkeyful?"

"Very monkey!" Luffy cheered.

"Aw shucks~! You're gonna make me blush~!"

We're sailing with idiots…" Nami sighed.

"Um, Nami? Will the Log Post be okay if we go to Jaya?" Roll asked.

"Yeah. So long as we don't stay there long enough for the Log Post to record the island, we should be good," Nami assured.

* * *

"So, Masira, what can you tell us about Jaya?" Roll asked.

"Well, there aren't many places there. In fact, aside from the jungle, there's only one town there; **Mock Town** ," Masira explained before frowning, "But it's a really bad news place. It's a pirate's town and bad news through and through. Lucky for us, we're not going there."

"We're not?" Roll raised a brow.

"Nope. We're going to the other side of the island to my boss's house," Masira replied Trust me, the boss is a really smart guy and believes in the impossible like me and my brother. If anyone knows how to reach Sky Island, it'll be him!"

"I hope he can," Roll nodded before they heard Chopper scream, "Chopper?"

"What's wrong?" X asked as he and Nami ran out of the map room.

"S-Seagulls!" Chopper replied as he was looking over three seagulls...extracting bullets from them, "They were all shot!"

"Sorry to hear that, Chopper. Looks like they were shot recently. They probably just died after flying away from where they were shot," Nami noted.

"No," Chopper shook his head, sniffing one of the bullets, "The smell of gunpowder on them is still really strong, meaning the shots just happened."

"Based on the entry wound...Chopper, which way were they flying? Roll asked.

"Opposite of our direction," Chopper replied.

"Based on the entry points...These were most likely fired from the direction we're heading to," Roll observed, "Though, is this even possible?"

"Of course it is. It'd have to depend on the shooter, what kind of gun they use, the caliber of the bullets, what technique they used…" Usopp noted

"A sniper then?" Roll guessed.

"Possibly," Usopp nodded, "You know, the reason why I only use a slingshot is because I've been banned from using any other kind of gun."

"Eh? Really?!" Chopper gawked.

"That's right!" Usopp nodded, crossing his arms with a grin, "It's because I'm so good with them, the people who are in charge of guns are afraid I'll scare off anyone else from ever using them."

"Your heartbeat's increasing," Roll deadpanned, "Liar."

"GAH!" Usopp froze up.

"Eh?! He was lying?!" Chopper exclaimed in shock.

"How did you know?" Usopp gawked.

"Ro~bo~t~" Roll winked, "Remember that I want to be a great nurse, so Papa installed me with a lot of medical tech." she tappd her ear, "My left ear can detect heartbeats so long as it's just one target and they're in a certain distance of me."

"SUGEI~!" Usopp and Chopper exclaimed in awe, stars in their eyes.

"Oi!" Sanji's voice called, "Nami-swan wants us all to gather on deck to talk about our plans!"

Within minutes, everyone was gathered on deck. X pushed a last pin into a board he had put up on the mast, the pin helping hold up a sheet of paper. He turned and nodded to Nami.

"Okay! Listen up! Masira says that his crew is going to meet at their boss's place on the other side of the island," Nami explained, earning a nod from the monkey of a man, "However, we also need to get some supplies. That's why we'll quickly drop off just a few of our crewmates here so they can go get those supplies and then they will take a path that Masira told me of to bring those supplies to where the rest of us will be."

"I volunteer…" Usopp raised a hand…

"The city on the west side of Jaya is a gathering place of people where there are no laws. There, people will laugh, sing, dance, and slaughter one another," Masira noted.

...before chopping it in Zoro's direction, "Zoro for this mission because I am sick with 'I-do-not-want-to-go-into-that-town-on-fear-of-death' disease."

"Oh, I know how to cure that," Roll noted.

"You do?!" Usopp paled and Chopper awed.

"Yep!" Roll smiled...with a sinister glint in her eyes.

* * *

"Good luck, guys!" Roll waved from Merry.

"Bye~!" Luffy waved between Zoro, X, and Usopp.

Usopp whimpered as he screamed in his mind, _'Curse you, Roll!-!-!-!'_

"Roll?"

"Yes, Nami?"

"...You are going to be a great Straw Hat," Nami grinned.

"X, your sister is scary! You hear me?!" Usopp demanded.

"She is?" X asked, blinking twice.

"Seems there's all kinds of people here!" Luffy grinned as he started walking into town.

"Looks to me like a fun city," Zoro smirked.

"THIS LOOKS LIKE A NIGHTMARE CITY!-!-!" Usopp argued, his eyes popping out into points, his teeth shark-like, and his tongue flailing.

Almost as if to prove his point, they heard the sound of glass breaking and someone giving a scream. Usopp let out a choked whimpering sob as his knees shook like an earthquake until he froze up by a hand being put on his shoulder.

"If anything happens, I'll be there to help," X assured.

"Th-thanks, X," Usopp nodded, "Hey, Luffy? Zoro? Think we can…" he turned to see no one there, "THEY LEFT ALREADY!-!-!"

"We can go catch them before we cause any trouble," X noted.

"AH! WAIT, X!" Usopp screamed as he ran before X and held his arms out, making X skid to a halt, "You're going to stick out like a sore thumb out here in that armor!"

"I am?" X blinked twice as he looked at his armor.

"Of course you are!" Usopp huffed before pulling out some robes from his satchel, "Here! I kept my robes from Alabasta, so put these on!"

X nodded. Minutes later, Usopp and X entered the city, the latter wearing large robes over his armor. Usopp tried to maintain a brave stance...but was betrayed by his knocking knees. As the two walked along, X kept looking around. While some people did seem to generally get along well, there were others who were punching and kicking, shooting, or stabbing one another. A coughing noises mixed with the sound of something hitting the ground made him look ahead to see a sickly man fall from a just-as-sickly horse.

"Are you okay?" X asked as he ran over with Usopp quickly following him.

"Hah, so embarrassing," the man coughed up a bit of blood.

"Easy now," Usopp advised as he and X helped the man back up onto his steed.

"Will you be okay, sir?" X asked.

"Ever since I was a kid, I have always been physically weak…!-!" the man wheezed, "Hyah...Hyah...Let's go, **Stronger** …"

The horse gagged up a bit of blood.

"EVEN THE HORSE IS WEAK?!" Usopp freaked.

"Yeah…" the man held out a basket of apples, "A token of my appreciation...Do me a favor, have a taste."

"Uh…" Usopp sweated.

X looked at the apples. For a brief moment, his eyes glowed before he nodded and picked out a fresh Granny Smith apple and gave it to Usopp, who took a bite.

"Oh wow! This is one of the best apples I've ever eaten!" Usopp exclaimed.

"Well now…" the man wheezed out a few chuckles, "You're rather lucky...if it had been an unlucky apple, you would've been dead by the first bite…"

"EHHHHHH?!" Usopp freaked, nearly dropping his apple as a set of explosions went off while the sickly horse stumbled away, "I KNEW THIS PLACE WAS A BAD IDEA TO GO TO!"

"We'll need to find Luffy and Zoro quicker," X frowned.

"Leave it to me," Usopp informed before inhaling deeply, "A POWERFUL SWORDSMAN IS HERE WITH A PLATTER OF MEAT!"

"...Huh?"

"Swordsman/Meat?" X blinked twice before looking to his right to see Luffy and Zoro looking around.

"..." X slowly looked at a grinning Usopp.

"You just need to know their weak points," Usopp noted.

X nodded, "I see…" he grabbed the two before they could leave, "Luffy, Zoro, we are here for supplies."

"Maa, maa, I know," Luffy replied...while picking his nose with his pinky.

"...This is normal?" X asked, looking at Usopp.

"Like you wouldn't believe," Usopp sighed in defeat before another explosion went off.

"WHY, APPLE, WHHHHYYYYYY?!"

"We should leave. _NOW_!" Usopp shouted.

"Oi, X," the super advanced robot looked towards the swordsman.

"Yes, Zoro?"

"Remember what I said? Come on. I saw a clearing nearby," Zoro ordered.

"Of course he was serious…" Usopp slumped.

"Shishishishi!" Luffy grinned before it came to him, "OI! Zoro! Don't destroy our new nakama!"

"...Should I be concerned with how the captain indirectly stated I'd lose?" X asked.

* * *

"Look! There's my ship!" Masira cheered as the Merry went along the shore.

"That's great!" Roll beamed.

"...Looks like a giant monkey made it," Sanji stated.

"Thanks!" Masira laughed as the Merry soon came to a halt before it.

 _'He thought it was a compliment?'_ Sanji sweatdropped as Masira jumped off Merry and climbed up his ship.

"Okay! Onwards to the boss!" Masira cheered, earning cheers from his men.

"Captain! Your brother Shoujou's over at the boss's place!"

"Great!" Masira beamed, "LET'S GO WITH OUR NEW FRIENDS!"

"OKIE! OKIE! OOOOOOOK!"

"Hey, Masira! Anything we need to know about your brother?" Nami asked.

"Um...Oh! Whatever you do, do not say 'monkey' around him! **Shoujou** doesn't like it, for some reason!"

"Got it!" Nami nodded before looking around, "...Where did Robin go?"

"Oh, she was the first one off when we dropped Zoro, Luffy, X-Niichan, and Usopp at Mock Town," Roll replied, "I gave her my sizes since she was going out to get new clothes for me and her."

"...WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY THAT BEFORE?!" Nami demanded, punching the mast beside her.

"AH! Gomen nassai! I thought you saw her leave!" Roll yelped.

"Ah~Nami-swan is so beautiful when she's upset~!" Sanji swooned before Nami's fist met his skull.

"SHUT UP! NOT IN THE MOOD, DAMMIT!"

 _'I really hope X is doing better than me…'_ Roll sweatdropped.

* * *

"Do we really need to do this?" X asked as he and Zoro stood on opposite sides of an empty field outside of the city.

"Just think of this as a sort of training that we can't do on the Merry," Zoro replied, the dark grin on his face not once leaving his face as he spoke.

"Luffy, I am getting a bad feeling on letting Zoro train X…" Usopp gulped.

"Usopp! We are getting to see a real Robot in action!" Luffy argued, stars in his eyes.

"...YAY! GO, X!" Usopp cheered.

"So how will this work? Are we working on reflexes? Tactics? Cooperation?" X pondered before rolling out of the way of a slash from Zoro's drawn sword in his left hand, "Whoa!"

"Come on!" Zoro called before X jumped back from his next swipe.

"Okay. So it's more survival and self-defense training," X noted before blinking twice, "...Oh. So you use two swords in your hands and one in your mouth."

" **Santoryu** …" Zoro brought his two arm swords over his mouth sword.

 _'A...A tiger?'_ X pondered, swearing that he could see a large tiger overshadowing Zoro in that pose.

" **TORA GARI**!" Zoro roared as he rushed at X and swung.

X's eyes widened as he barely jumped to the side, making a tumble before ending up back on his feet. The sound of creaking wood made him look at the tree he had been standing before collapsing, looking as it a tiger's fangs had torn into a part of it.

"...You named your attack after a Mohican haircut?" X asked.

"IT MEANS TIGER HUNTING!" Zoro barked, his eyes blank and his teeth sharp.

"...How are you talking so clearly through a handle in your mouth?" X questioned, "I mean, you should be incapable of swallowing with that in your mouth and there should be saliva leaking fr…"

"SHUT IT!" another series of swiped were sent at X, the last of them grazing across the blue robot's torso, the faintest of cuts left.

"?!" X jumped back from Zoro, _'Humans can cut metal with just swords?'_

 _'What kind of metal is that guy made of?'_ Zoro pondered, _'Wado felt like it was about to snap from just grazing it.'_

A beeping suddenly made everyone stop. The gem on X's helmet was flashing in time with the beeping until X tapped the side of his helmet twice.

"Moshi-moshi?" X pondered.

=Okay! So communicators are working perfectly fine= Roll's voice noted.

"Roll?" X pondered.

"Eh? Roll?" Luffy looked around.

=X, we've managed to get together with Masira's ship and now we've grouped with his brother and are on our way to their boss's house. What's the status on getting supplies?=

"...Nami forgot to give us currency for said supplies."

"Who are you talking to?" Usopp asked.

"Roll," X replied, "My helmet has a communicator in it like Roll has on one of the orbs on her dress. We can talk to one another at a distance of twenty kilometers."

"SUGEI!" Luffy and Usopp cheered.

"..." X nodded a few times, "Zoro, we'll need to stop for now. Usopp has the money we were given for supplies and we haven't bought a single one yet."

=WHAT?!= X fell over, his helmet bouncing off =WHAT DO YOU MEAN NONE OF YOU HAVE GOTTEN ANYTHING YET?!=

"N-Nami's voice is coming out of the helmet!" Luffy freaked.

=IF YOU GUYS DON'T GET A MOVE ON, I'M GOING TO INCREASE WHAT YOU ALL OWE ME AND START A TAB ON X!=

"Ah! H-Hai, Nami-sama!" Usopp paled as Luffy and him began to drag Zoro and X off, the blue robot grabbing his helmet on the way.

"Usopp seems to develop momentary bursts of strength when panicking," X observed, "And...what's a 'tab?'"

=It means you'll have to owe me money like all the boys on the ship do= Nami explained.

"Oh. Very well. We'll try to do our best to get everything," X replied.

=Nami, can I please have my receiver back?= Roll asked.

=Fine, fine...Just make sure they don't get into trouble or start fights, okay X?=

"Understood. Over and out," X replied before hanging up.

* * *

"That's pretty useful," Nami admitted as Roll plugged the green half orb back onto the top of her dress.

"Well, at least if we have to split up into two groups, we'll have a way to notify the others," Roll smiled.

"Um, Roll? If your left one does that, what does the right one do?" Chopper asked.

"Oh! Well," Roll tapped the orb before it let out a light, "Flashlight. It also doubles as a blacklight for finding hidden messages in things."

"Sugei~!" Chopper awed before his eyes widened, "Ah! We forgot to tell them Robin was in the town!"

"I'm sure she can take care of herself," Nami rolled her eyes, "I mean, she was Crocodile's right hand lady."

"So, Shoujou-san, Masira-san, what is your boss like?" Roll asked, looking up at the two ships they were sailing between and at the orange/red monkey-themed captain and green-wearing orangutang-like captain.

"Oh the boss is a great guy!" Masira beamed.

"That's right! He's someone we really look up to and we're all working together to find the island in the sky!" Shoujou added.

"He sounds like a good boss in a way," Roll noted.

"I just hope our 'boss' isn't causing trouble," Nami sighed with Chopper nodding in agreement.

* * *

"This 'Mock Town'...It was built more or less on money from pirates. The way pirates spend money is like spilling water," a bartender noted as the Straw Hats sat at his counter, "Even though they seeing fighting and killing as an 'everyday thing,' they rarely attack the citizens."

"I guess it's because they know that no citizens means no one runs their favorite places here…" Usopp gulped, "I am really starting to not like this city even more…"

"With how that man from before treated us, I cannot help but agree," X added with a slight frown on his face, once more wearing the disguise Usopp gave him.

Reason for this was because the group came across a hotel area of sorts owned by this 'Bellamy' person the manager was talking about, and...well, this one man was talking down to the group like he was superior to them. Even going as far as giving them money to replace the 'rags' they were wearing.

The bartender chuckled, "A normal person would say so. Unfortunately, there are not that many normal people here. It takes about four days to set the 'record,' so one must leave before getting into any serious trouble!"

"I am so thankful that we'll most likely be here for less than that," Usopp whispered to X, earning a nod from X.

"Excuse me, b…" X began.

"Hey! Mister!-!/Hey, old man!"

"Hmm? What is it?" the bartender asked as he looked over at Luffy and a large, rotund man in an open white shirt, bandana, and long shaggy black hair.

"This Cherry pie taste so extremely delicious/horrible I'm gonna die!-!-!" Luffy and the large man exclaimed before blinking and shooting a glare at each other, "Oh?" both then took a drink of their filled glass mugs, Zoro having made sure to get Luffy soda and not grog, "This soda tastes so bad/good!-!-!"

"...Is there something wrong with your tastebuds, kid?" the large man asked as he glared down at Luffy.

"...Dunno. Is there something wrong with your head?" Luffy countered with his own glare.

"Aren't you going to intervene?" Usopp whispered.

"I'm not the cook, so I really don't care…" the bartender sweatdropped.

"Mister, I want fifty pieces of meat to go!" Luffy beamed.

"And I'll take _fifty one_ of those cherry pies to go, buddy!" the large man added, earning an eye twitch from Luffy.

"Wait! Make that fifty two steaks!"

"My mistake, I'll take fifty three cherry pies!"

"No! Fifty four steaks!"

"Sixty pies!"

"Seventy steaks!"

"Eighty pies!"

"Ninety steaks!"

"A hundred!" both shouted before both started growling at the other, rolling their sleeves up, "WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM, YOU WANNA FIGHT?!"

"HOW DID THIS TURN HOSTILE?!" Usopp snapped.

"Do you two even have the slightest idea what you're fighting about?!" Zoro snapped.

Usopp grabbed Luffy and dragged him away from the bigger man, "Luffy! Remember that X made you promise to not get into fights while we're here!"

"We also don't have enough cash for a hundred pieces of meat," X added, "Especially with the budget Nami put on us."

"...Mm…" Luffy frowned as he backed away a bit, Usopp letting him go.

"...You a pirate, kid?" the large man asked Luffy with a grin.

"I am…"

"What's your bounty?"

"Thirty million!"

"Thirty million…?! _You_?" he slammed his hands on the counter, "IT'S NOT POSSIBLE! YOU'RE LYING!"

"I'M NOT LYING! IT'S TRUE!"

"KNOCK IT OFF!" Zoro and Usopp barked, their eyes blank and teeth shark-like.

"Your pies are done, sir," X spoke up.

"What?" the man asked as the bartender put a sack on the counter.

"Here. 100 cherry pies. I don't like fights in my bar, so take this on the house if you leave right now," the bartender informed.

"..." the man glared at Luffy one more time before he picked up the sack and walked out, passing by a chuckling man.

"Oi!" the man called as he slammed the swinging doors open, "Is there a pirate with a mugiwara in here?"

"Hm?" Luffy blinked a bit at that as he turned around.

The man that came into the bar was a tall man wearing a purple sleeveless shirt, grey camo-pants, and black combat boots. Over his shoulders was a purple captain's jacket with gold trimming. The man's skin was richly tanned with short, scraggy blond hair on top of his head with a scar on his right forehead.

"Ahh….i-it's...it's Bellamy 'the Hyena'!" one of the bar patrons there tensed up, fear evident in his voice as they all looked at the man standing in the doorway.

"Hmm…" Bellamy looked over at Luffy, seeing him the only one with a strawhat, "So you're the thirty million bounty boy…?"

"...What's this about?" Luffy asked as the tall man began to approach him

"Looks like he's got some business with you, Luffy," Zoro noted.

"Oi, oi, oi. Isn't Bellamy the name of that guy who reserved that whole hotel?" Usopp whispered.

"I believe so, Usopp," X nodded, keeping a close eye on Bellamy.

"...Man. I keep running into a lot of tall guys today," Luffy noted as he looked up at Bellamy.

"Oi, barkeep!" Bellamy called out to the bartender, "Give me your most expensive alcohol, and give shorty here whatever he wants."

"500 pieces of meat!" Luffy cheered.

X tapped Usopp's shoulder, earning his attention. X motioned towards the door and Usopp peeked. His eyes widened.

"Those are those guys that were at the hotel," Usopp whispered.

"Yeah...guess that means they're part of Bellamy's pirate crew," X noted quietly as a few of the people in the bar began to run away from the man in the fur coat, carrying a large bloodied curved sword over his shoulder.

"Should've offered your seats, dumbasses," the man stated with a dark grin, a pair of men with large cuts on them at his feet as he sat down.

"Th...that's 'Big Knife' Sarquiss," one of the bar patrons whispered, "Is..is he gonna start a fight or something?"

" **Bellamy the Hyena**. Bounty of 55,000,000," X noted, "And **Big Knife Sarquiss** , a bounty of 38,000,000."

"How did you know that?" Zoro asked.

"Their posters are over there," X replied as he pointed at a wall filled with bounty posters, "See?"

"...Sok-"

 ***CRASH!***

"Ahh! Luffy!" Usopp freaked.

"That's the fifth counter this week...and it's only Tuesday," the bartender sighed as he walked away from the broken remains of his counter.

Sarquiss began to laugh, "I wasn't sure what Bellamy was thinking."

"...And just what are you doing, _underling_?" Bellamy questioned as one of Zoro's swords was pressed against his neck.

"That's a question _you_ should answer," Zoro retorted.

"Z-z-z-z-z-Zoro! Hold on a minute!" Usopp freaked, "Last thing we want right now is getting involved with some really dangerous pirates!"

"Tch. Shut up. Someone just attacked us, I'm just defending," Zoro snorted as Luffy began to get up.

"Hmm? You can still stand up, kid?" Bellamy asked, reaching out once more before his wrist was grabbed, "Hm?"

"..." X stood between them, his hand clenching tight onto Bellamy's wrist.

"...You got a problem, little boy?" Bellamy asked as he glared a bit at X.

"You were about to strike my captain," X stated.

"Luffy, remember the promise. Remember the promise," Usopp whispered.

"..." Luffy said nothing as he glared at Bellamy, his fist clenched up.

"Luffy, seriously no. We came here to get supplies for Sky Island," Usopp hissed loudly...which unfortunately caught the attention of everyone in the bar.

"...Did that long nosed freak just say 'Sky Island'?" Sarquiss asked.

Silence befell the bar for a few moments...until the sounds of mocking laughter filled the air, all of it aimed right at Luffy and his group. X released Bellamy's wrist as he looked in confusion at the laughter.

"Sky Island?!"

"Give me a break!"

"Huh?! B-But the Log Pose we have keeps pointing up at the sky!" Usopp argued.

"So?! Log poses break easily, dumbass!"

"Heh heh...ahh, your dumb friend got me there," Bellamy chuckled as he sat down, "You guys believe in an ancient legend about an island in the sky? Only little kids believe in crap like that!"

"I've seen it."

A silence fell. Everyone looked at X, who was just looking at them all.

"I have seen the island floating in the sky for myself," X stated.

"Eh? You're serious, you little boy?" Bellamy snorted in amusement.

"..."

"...Wow. And I thought Mugiwara here was delusional," Bellamy chuckled a bit in a mocking manner, "Let me give you a lesson, little boy blue. Sky Island is nothing but a myth. The era of 'dreams' is over. The city of gold, the city of emeralds, the hidden treasure One Piece, all of them are nothing but things idiots dream and fail to notice real treasure around them. In this era, those who follow those illusions end up dying."

"This is the Grand Line," X stated, "What people would say is impossible in the other seas, they are most likely real here."

"People who say crap like that are losers," Bellamy countered, "Especially those who talk about people who die for their so called dreams."

"It is those who have dreams that are often the ones who are the strongest. What does that say about you who seem to not have dreams?"

"Because unlike you brats, I'm a real pirate," Bellamy argued, "And just looking at you disgust me. The fact you all believe such drivel gives _real_ pirates a bad name!"

"..." X looked over at Usopp, "These are 'real' pirates? They act more like children that want to be stubborn about something then anything else."

 _'I am not even going to try to point out how you just described Luffy when he sets his sights on something,'_ Usopp sweatdropped.

"...But you know what? I'm feeling rather generous right now," Bellamy smirked as he stood up, "Since you're all avoiding reality so much, I figure my crew and I should beat you all back to it!"

"Good luck with getting Usopp back there," Zoro noted.

"Yeah. Good luck on…" Usopp began before slapping Zoro on the back of the head, "OI!"

"Oh this should be good," one of the bar patrons grinned as they watched.

"Go on! Show those dreaming cowards whose boss!" another added.

"There are many unique ocean currents in the Grand Line. One of 'em's called the **Knock Up Stream** ," Bellamy explained, "I'm guessing none of you have heard it?"

"The Knock Up Stream is a unique event that occurs often in the Grand Line. Almost as often as five times in a single month with each time having a different level of strength," everyone looked to a nearby table where Robin was sitting, her perpetual smile on her face as she rested her hand on her cheek with the elbow on the table she was sitting at, "The Knock Up Stream is created by a giant underwater cave filled with gas. At some point in time, the gas pressure is too big and creates a crack in the ceiling, then a giant whirlpool is created from the crack. Once most of the gas gets free, the seabed explodes, sending a giant stream upwards. You could say it's a more advanced kind of limnic eruption, which are the result of a sudden release of carbon dioxide gas from the depth of deep lakes that have failed to cycle their water and geysers, which are fountain-like gushing streams of water caused by extreme heat and pressure."

"Robin!" Usopp gasped.

"Heh. The gal's right," Bellamy smirked, "Ships that fall victim to that current…" the smirk turned dark and delighted, "...are blasted high into the sky, only to fall straight back into the ocean below. A bunch of ignorant sailors from long ago saw ships falling down from it, and imagined an island in the sky. 'There must be another world in the sky!'" he gave another loud laugh, "What a bunch of morons! Even crazy stuff like that has a rational explanation."

"So mocking people with dreams is considered rational?" X asked.

"Of course!" Bellamy laughed, "All dreams can be explained!" he sighed in mock disappointment as he looked at Luffy, "What a shame. I was gonna test you to see if I'd let you join my crew for the New Era...But you're just a lost cause. Why don't you brats go back to your parents since they did such a poor job raising you?"

"This guy's making me so mad…" Usopp growled behind Zoro, "X, can they forget the promise and beat these guys up?"

"No," X shook his head as he turned to the wrecked counter, "It is up to the captain if we do that or not." he looked at the barkeeper, "Sir, do you have some spare nails, wood, and a hammer? I can mend this for you."

"Two!" Luffy called, "Sorry for breaking your counter!"

 _'What are they doing?!'_ Usopp thought in shock.

"...Make that three," Zoro added.

 _'God damn it, Zoro!'_ Usopp mentally snapped.

"..." Robin just watched as Bellamy's eye twitched.

"So you like fixing things up?" Bellamy asked, "Well...how's about I give you more to fix then?! Come on, boys!"

"Don't fight them. No matter what," Luffy whispered to X and Zoro.

"..." X and Zoro nodded.

* * *

"What was that about?!" Usopp gawked as the group left the bar, a still-cloaked X holding a bloodied Zoro and Luffy, "You guys could've totally kicked their asses, and yet all you did was repair a counter?!"

"...It was so he could still work without closing for a day to fix it," X replied.

Usopp facefaulted.

"Sky Island does exist," Usopp paused as the large man from before took a large bite from his pie, "Zehahahahaha! The cherry walnuts here really are the best!"

"Ah! You're the guy from before!" Usopp exclaimed as X put Zoro and Luffy on the floor gently.

"What's got you so freaked out?" the man asked, "Your friends there are the ones who won the fight."

"Say what?" Usopp blinked twice.

"And the hidden tongue lashing your cloaked guy here gave them was pretty nice, too," the man went on, "You've got some guts, guy." he grinned as Zoro began to get up, "Zehahahahaha!"

"Zoro?" Usopp pondered before Luffy got up as well, "Luffy?"

"This "new era" they talk about is a load of shit. The age where pirates dream is over!? Eh!? Oi! Zehahahaha!" the man laughed loud and hardy before slamming his bottle of rum on the ground, a large grin on his face, "PEOPLE'S DREAMS... DON'T EVER END!"

"..." Luffy just kept staring at the man, his hat shading the area around his eyes.

"AIN'T I RIGHT?" the man asked, the grin never leaving his face as he ignored the mocking laughter aimed right at him.

"Hey, nutcase, what the hell are you screaming about?"

"What was that about people's dreams?"

"It ain't easy to surpass a person!" the man laughed, "ZEHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"This guy's lost it!"

The man just ignored them, "Let 'em laugh. If you seek the Summit, you'll find fights your fists alone could never take you to! Follow it! ZEHAHAHAHAHA!" the man laughed once more as he put away his remaining pies and the picnic blanket he had been sitting on, "Oh, looks like I've kept you all held up. You're all probably in a hurry." he turned from them, taking a drink of his rum, "I hope you make it there. To Sky Island!"

Luffy turned from the laughing man as both started walking away from each other.

 _'That man...interesting, and yet…'_ X thought as he looked back, _'Why do I feel something...foreboding about him?'_

* * *

"Oi, Luffy, why didn't we ask that guy about Sky Island? It looked like he knew a lot about it," Usopp noted as the four men and one woman walked along a dirt path towards the other side of the island, all of them carrying either shopping bags of crates and barrels.

"Dunno. And it wasn't 'that guy,'" Luffy replied.

"Eh?"

"It was 'those guys,'" Zoro replied for Luffy.

"Those guys?" Usopp repeated, "...Wait. You're saying he wasn't alone?!"

"Probably," Zoro replied.

"Oh, I noticed a few people that followed after him after that interesting talk," Robin noted, "It seems that I might have found the mystery sniper as well since he was able to notice and nearly shoot an eye I had on them without even looking."

"I saw the sickly man and his horse going the way that man was as well, both being carried by a large masked man," X added.

"You gotta be kidding me…" Usopp paled.

"I am not."

"...Why?! Why do we keep encountering such scary people?!" Usopp exclaimed.

"I am unsure," X replied.

"Perhaps it's because Mr. Captain has such an...interesting personality," Robin suggested.

"...I suppose you are right," X nodded before looking ahead, "Oh? I think I see the ship."

"I see it," Zoro nodded.

The others looked to see Merry near the shore, sandwiched between two larger vessels. Near them was a large structure that looked to be a large three-storied house with a much larger wooden cutout on the other side facing the sea.

"It seems that this is where the boss of Masira lives," X noted.

"I did some research while I was in Mock Town. The man who lives there is known as **Montblanc Cricket** , 'The Man who talks about Dreams,'" Robin informed.

"What's with that thing behind the house?" Luffy asked.

"His house is just half a house," Zoro stated, seeing the cutout was attached to the half a house as they got closer.

"Everyone!"

"Oh! Chopper!" Usopp beamed as he saw Chopper running over in Walking Point, Roll on his back, "Roll, too!"

"Oi! Mi-" Copper began before he noticed Luffy and Zoro's injuries, "...EH?!"

 ***CLONG***

"WHAT DID CHOPPER AND I SAY ABOUT GETTING INTO FIGHTS WHILE YOU STILL HAVE BANDAGES ON?!" Roll barked as she stood over the two downed pirates, large bumps on their heads while her broom was steaming from the impacts.

"Technically, we didn't actually fight at all," X spoke up.

"Yeah. Those others guys just kept punching and kicking and hitting them with bottles, but neither of them would even try to fight," Usopp explained.

"...Other guys?" Roll raised a brow.

"A crew led by a man named Bellamy," X explained before whispering to Roll, "He stated dreams were for fools and that people who believe in them are even bigger fools who die out at sea more or less."

"...He sounds like a little kid that refuses to believe anything even if it's shoved right into their face that they're wrong," Roll deadpanned.

"He also told us to go home to our parents, stating they did a poor job raising us," X added.

"...Dibs."

"Huh?" X blinked twice.

"I call dibs on beating up that guy the next time we see him," Roll stated.

"Aw man~!" Luffy whined.

"Huh?" X blinked twice once more.

"Oh yeah. You never really saw the world," Zoro noted, "Your sister just said that we're not allowed to beat him up the next time we see the laughing baka because she's going to do it."

"Oh...I see," X noted.

"Do you?" Usopp asked.

"Not in the slightest."

"Just stick with us and you'll get used to it all in no time," Usopp sweatdropped.

"Oh, you got the supplies!" Roll beamed, "Come on! Let's drop it off! Everyone's been waiting for you guys so we can meet Masira and Shoujou's boss!"

"That was rather kind of them, Ms. Nurse," Robin noted.

"Yep!" Roll beamed as they got on board Merry.

"Robin-chawn~! Welcome back~!" Sanji greeted, spinning over before stopping, holding up a tray with a finely-made and decorated smoothie in it, "A delicious banana smoothie. We were given a few bundles of bananas from the shitty monkey."

"Oh! That looks great!" Usopp noted.

"Your share's over there," Sanji pointed at four plain banana smoothies in wooden mugs nearby.

"These are really good," Roll explained to the five.

"Him making something good?" Zoro snorted, "Yeah right. It always tastes like shit."

"What did you say?!" Sanji snapped, Zoro blocking it with one of his scabbards before the two ended up off the Merry, trying to kick or slash at the other.

 ***WHAM***

"NOT EVEN FIVE MINUTES AND YOU'RE BOTH ARGUING!" Nami snapped, smoke coming from her fists and the new bumps on Sanji and Zoro's heads, before she looked over at Luffy, who was slurping his smoothie, "Oi, Luffy, did you guys find anything about Sky Island?"

"Hmm? Nope," Luffy replied as he picked his nose with a pinkie.

"No? What do y-" Nami began before X whispered what happened, "WHAT?! Why the hell didn't you guys…" X whispered more, "...Really?" X nodded, causing Nami to sigh in annoyance, "Dammit."

"It's all in the past right now. For now let us relax until we're needed," X stated

A few minutes went by and Usopp, Chopper, and X were by the Merry. Around them were a few tools X had gotten for ship repair.

"Board."

"Right."

"Nail."

"Right."

"Board."

"Right."

"Ita!"

"Right!" Chopper held out a board to Usopp, who had frozen with his thumb red and throbbing. (A/N: 'Ita' can mean both 'Ouch' and 'Plank.')

"Jeez...I'm not a shipwright…" Usopp muttered as X took his place in hammering the nail in, "Still, thanks for getting this stuff, X."

"No trouble," X replied as he looked at the previous repairs, "Still...Merry must have been amazing to look at in the beginning."

"She still does!" Usopp beamed, "My friend Kaya gave it to us and I've done all I can to try to do good repairs."

X nodded before looking at the mast, "Did you set up small planks beneath the metal on the mast?"

"Eh?"

"It's meant to help lessen further damage to the broken mast so that it doesn't fall over unexpectedly," X explained.

"...Gah!" Usopp freaked, "Oi, oi, oi! X, Chopper, help me remove the metal from the mast so we can set up smaller boards!"

X and Chopper nodded.

"So, Robin, what kind of dreams was Montblanc Cricket talking about that got him kicked out of Mock Town?" Nami asked as the girls of the Straw Hats were sitting at a table on the deck.

"I don't know the details, but...Apparently, he claims that there's a mountain of gold somewhere on Jaya," Robin replied as the three boys were repairing the mast.

Roll blinked twice as she saw Nami's eyes were Berri symbols once more.

"Gold?! As in some sort of pirate's treasure or something?!" Nami asked.

"Well, who knows?" Robin took a sip of her smoothie.

"Gold~! Oi, Chopper! Start digging! We're gonna find that gold!" Nami ordered before hearing Shoujou laugh.

"No, no, no!" Shoujou laughed, "The gold's not on this part of Jaya, but the part that vanished!"

"Vanished?" Zoro repeated before Masira ran over.

"Here! It's all in this book!" Masira explained as the others got off Merry or paused in their repairs, "Nii-san and I are big fans of it!"

"A picture book?" Nami pondered

" **Norland the Liar**?" Roll read the title.

"Ooh~!" Usopp grinned as he crossed his arms over his chest, "That's a cool title! I like his style!"

"Norland the Liar?" Sanji pondered.

"You've heard of it, Sanji-san?" Roll asked.

"But it says that it was published in the **North Blue** ," Nami noted, looking at the book.

"Ah, I was born in the North Blue," Sanji explained, "Didn't I tell you?"

"That's news to me," Usopp noted, "I thought you were from the **East Blue** like the rest of us."

"Never heard of the North Blue," Roll shook her head, "Nor the East Blue for that matter."

"Aside from the Grand Line, there are four seas called the Blues; North, South, East, and West Blues," Nami explained, "Everyone on our ship aside from you, X, Robin, and Chopper are from the East Blue...and now Sanji as well, since he was born in the North Blue it seems."

"I was born in the North Blue, but I grew up in the East Blue," Sanji pointed out.

"So you haven't heard the story of Norland the Liar?" Masira asked.

"Not at all," Roll shook her head.

"Oh, that's terrible!" Shoujou gawked.

"This is a pretty famous story in the North," Sanji explained, "It's just a fairy tale for kids now, but I heard that Norland used to be a real person."

"Real nothing! Boss is a descendent of him!" Masira beamed.

"Eh?! Really?!" Chopper gasped.

"Now I kinda wanna hear the story," Roll noted, "It could help us be better prepared for meeting this boss."

Nami rolled her eyes, but opened the book, " _Once upon a time, long, long ago...Perhaps over 400 years ago...In a certain country in the North Sea, there lived a man named_ _ **Montblanc Norland**_ _. Norland was an explorer who always spoke of adventures so grand, they sounded like lies. But the people of the village could never tell if the stories were true or not._ "

"Do you think those grand adventures were on the Grand Line?" Chopper whispered to Roll, who shrugged.

" _One day, Norland returned from an expedition and went to report to the king. 'I saw a mountain of gold on an island in the Great Sea.' The brave King, wanting to see it for himself set sail for the Great Sea, taking 2000 soldiers with him. After overcoming great storms and battling horrific monsters, the only ones to reach the island were Norland, the King, and 100 of his soldiers. But all the King and his men found there was an empty jungle._ "

"Empty?!" Roll gasped.

"Yes. Empty. _Norland was sentenced to death for his lies. And these were Norland's last words: 'That's it! The mountain of gold must have sunk into the sea!' The King and his subjects were astounded. No one would believe Norland anymore. But to the day he died, Norland would not stop lying,_ " Nami finished reading before looking sadly at Usopp, "And so the adventurer perished without becoming a brave warrior of the sea…"

"DON'T LOOK AT ME WHEN YOU'RE SAYING THAT!" Usopp snapped as, nearby, Luffy was staring at the water in a perplexed state, "AND DON'T ADD IN SUCH A PAINFUL SENTENCE!"

"You two are fans of that?" Roll sweatdropped at Masira and Shoujou, who were nodding with tears in their eyes.

"We swore we'd find the mountain of gold to prove Montblanc really was telling the truth!" Shoujou blew into a tissue.

"We've been helping Boss for years since we met him here!" Masira added before they heard Luffy scream at the same time something started splashing.

"Luffy fell into the sea!" Nami yelped.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Usopp demanded as he ran to where Luffy had been just in time for a muscular, shirtless man in just a tiny crown of sorts and purple pants emerge from the water, "GAH!"

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!" the man demanded as he assumed a karate pose, "You've got guts, relaxing in another man's home!"

"Ah! Boss, wait!" Shoujou called.

"These guys want help finding Sky Island!" Masira added.

"Hm? Sky Island?" the man asked before his eyes widened as he collapsed, holding his stomach, "ARRRGH!"

"BOSS!-!-!" Shoujou and Masira freaked.

"Hurry and get him into his bed!" Roll ordered.

"Usopp, get Luffy already!" Nami ordered.

* * *

"So what do you think? **Dysbarism**?" Roll questioned as she and Chopper looked the now-unconscious man over.

"It seems like it. Most like it's DCS - **Decompression Sickness** ," Chopper concurred.

"Bring some more cold towels and open those windows," Roll ordered as Sanji was quick to respond to that order.

"Is Boss gonna die?!" Masira sobbed, biting a cloth and tugging it down as he and Shoujou were outside the door since they were too big for the room.

"He'll be okay after a few days, but don't let him go diving until then," Chopper warned, "And even then, he had to make sure to come up slowly and not too fast. For now, it was just a bad stomach cramp and loss of consciousness. But the next time, it may result in ruptures in the heart, lungs, or even the brain."

"Something that Luffy probably doesn't have," Usopp deadpanned as he looked at the captain, "Oi, what the hell were you doing?!"

"Bubbles were coming up from the sea! I was looking at them and then a chestnut appeared! But the chestnut grew an Ossan…!" Luffy began.

"Boss isn't an old man!" Masira and Shoujou barked.

"...And then he pulled me into the water!" Luffy finished his explanation, "So is the Ossan sick?"

"Yes, but it's not a permanent illness," Roll replied, "You see, Luffy, when a diver descends, excess nitrogen enters the body's blood and tissue. Then on ascent, the chemicals diffuse out in the form of bubbles, causing various symptoms."

"Soka...so it's a mystery sickness," Luffy nodded, causing Roll to facefault.

"He must have been diving every day, not letting the bubbles dissolve properly," Chopper hypothesized.

"Ah!" the brothers gawked, "It must from trying to salvage from ships!"

Chopper nodded, "But it is very dangerous. In some cases, it can become lethal."

"So all that's left is to wait for him to wake up," Roll noted.

Almost like that, everyone began to go on their own business. While Roll and Chopper continued their surveillance on the man, Luffy ended up getting into a bonding talk with the two brothers. X looked over at Merry to see Nami going up into the ship and followed her. He opened the door to the galley to see Nami pulling out a bottle of rum.

"You're thirsty?" X asked.

"More like I want to forget what you said about what happened in town," Nami sighed, "Honestly, X, I just don't get it. Those guys are so tough they could've easily pummeled everyone and your Buster is strong enough to sink ships with one shot, but...none of you fought them."

"Sometimes actions speak louder than words," X replied.

"But you could've…"

"Violence is never the first answer," X interrupted, "When it comes to people like Bellamy and his men, who just taunted and laughed and tried to get us to fight, it would have acknowledged that they got to us. By not fighting and just focusing on trying to help fix the parts that Bellamy broke, we showed they didn't get to us...that they couldn't get a rise out of us like they wanted."

"...I...suppose you're right…"

"Yes. And even if we did end up fighting...let us say Luffy would have most likely knocked Bellamy out with one punch if he wasn't going by the promise."

"Seriously?" Nami raised a brow.

"From comparisons between hits I've recorded from Bellamy and ones recorded from Luffy...Luffy, if he chose to go all out in a single punch, would cave in part of Bellamy's skull, resulting in minute brain damage and immediate medical attention would be required to prevent further injuries from developing," X replied.

"S...Seriously?" Nami blinked twice, "I-I mean, I know Luffy is strong, but...could he really do that kind of damage?"

X nodded, "It is most likely he could."

"...Okay, I don't need a drink for the town incident anymore. I need a drink for trying to understand _Luffy_."

"I am sure that it's not that…" X began.

 _"OH~YO HO! YO HO! A PIRATE'S LIFE FOR ME~!"_

"...You drink, I'll turn off my audio receptors," X stated.

Nami went straight to trying to get herself drunk as X turned off his hearing. Zoro chose to dive into the ocean with Sanji and Usopp following while Chopper stuffed his ears with cotton balls and then wrap them in medical tape as Roll turned off her own hearing. None of them wanted to either remember nor hear the 'singing' that is Masira, Luffy, and Shoujou singing loudly and horribly off-key...especially when both of Masira and Shoujou's crews on their ships joined in with their own off-key singing.

* * *

"He's waking up!" Roll called.

"Oh! He is?" Luffy beamed as he ran inside, "Oi! Chestnut Ossan! We've got something to ask you!"

"..." the man sighed as he took out the cigarette in his mouth, "Sorry for attacking you like that. I thought you were someone that was just out to steal my gold like all the other idiots in Mock Town."

"Eh?! You've got gold?!" Nami asked, Belli in her eyes once more.

"Stop it. Stop it now," Usopp deadpanned quietly.

"So what'd you wanna ask me? Montblanc Cricket?"

"Ossan, we wanna go up to Sky Island!" Luffy replied, "Tell us how to get there!"

"Sky Island?" Cricket repeated before he laughed, "You guys believe in Sky Island!?"

"Don't! He's sick!" Usopp freaked as he grabbed Nami's raised fist.

"D...Do you mean that there isn't a Sky Island, sir?" Roll asked.

"Well now…" Cricket chuckled as he put his cigarette back into his mouth, "I know this one guy who said it existed, but...He's famous for being a great liar."

"..." everyone who knew the guy looked right at Usopp.

"NOT ME!" Usopp snapped.

"You refer to the story?" Roll asked as she looked out the window at the book in Masira's hands, "Norland the Liar?"

"Eh?" Luffy looked at Usopp with wide eyes and a dropped jaw.

"I JUST SAID IT WASN'T ME! THE NAME'S DIFFERENT YOU KNOW!?" Usopp snapped, giving a dope slap to the back of Luffy's head.

"As I recall, the name of that guy was Montblanc Norland," Sanji recalled.

"So that means you're his descendant?" Nami asked, "I...Is _Jaya_ the setting from that tale?"

"Hmph. He's my Jiisan's Jiisan's...Jissan's something or other," Cricket snorted, "A very distant ancestor. His story gives me a lot of problems. Not even a mosquito could find a drop of his blood in me. At the time, the Montblanc family was exiled from the country and forced to live in shame. The abse we got from the public still continues to this day."

"That's horrible!" Roll gasped.

"But...no one in our family hates him," Cricket went on.

"Why?" Chopper asked.

"Because Norland was the rarest of things - an honest man."

"An honest man?" Roll repeated, "But, the story…"

"In the story, Norland's last words are: 'That's it! The mountain of gold must have sunk into the ocean!' They draw him with the grin of an idiot in the picture, but he died in regret, with tears flowing down his face," Cricket continued, the eyes of nearly everyone there widening at the news, "The island they had landed on was indeed Jaya, the same island where Norland first discovered the City of Gold. I can't accept the idea that it was all an illusion."

"So Norland asserted that changes in the Earth's crust must have caused the city to sink into the ocean?" Roll asked.

"That's right. But to everyone else, they thought he was just a sore loser trying to justify himself. Norland was executed before a huge crowd on onlookers, laughing and hooting. Only the name 'Liar' remained."

"Oh, I get it! You're trying to search the ocean floor to find the City of Gold to exonerate the Montblanc family name!" Usopp realized.

"DON'T GIVE ME THAT CRAP!" Cricket snapped, aiming a flintlock at Usopp before X's hand crushed the barrel, "?!"

"My apologies if it meant something to you," X apologized as he let go.

"...Tch. Whether or not that distant ancestor was an honest man...Whether or not he was an honest man...It's got nothing to do with me!" Cricket scowled as he glared at Usopp, "Do you have any idea what it's like for a kid...to be jeered at by everyone just because he has the blood of an idiot in his veins?! I had to grow up with that!" a silence fell at they looked at the man, "But...Yeah. These past four hundred years, countless members of our family have come to this island to try to restore our family's name. Each one never returned and I soon became ashamed of my family." he looked out the window, "So one day I ran away from home and became a pirate."

"Kaizoku?" Luffy asked, "You're a pirate, too, Ossan?"

"It's not like I wanted to be one," Cricket replied, "I just wanted to be free of Norland's curse."

"Yet, here you are," Roll noted.

"That's because of what happened ten years ago. Before that time,, I had managed to create a massive crew for myself. After I came to the Grand Line, so many adventures were had. Through some random happenstance, my crew ended up reaching this very island."

"It's rather ironic then. You, someone who was ashamed of your family and what they've tried to do, were the only one who managed to reach Jaya," Roll frowned.

Cricket nodded, "As I stood upon the cape, looking out to where the City of Gold had originally been before it sank beneath the waters...I thought that this was my fate...that there was no escaping it." he narrowed his eyes, "I said to myself 'Let's settle this then, Norland.' I gave the role of Captain to my first mate and sent them off before I began to start diving and searching. If it does exist, that's fine. But if it doesn't exist, that's fine too. This isn't about proving his innocence. This is a battle with the man who ruined my life. I just want to settle things with him before I die."

Usopp had an arm over his eyes, tears flowing strongly down his face, "Y-You're a true man."

"Then what about these two?" Luffy asked as he pointed out at Shoujou and Masira, "Why are the monkeys here?"

"It must have been another incredible drama of men…" Usopp choked a sob, "...struggling against the ocean's depth, told through fists!"

"They're fans of the book," Cricket stated.

"FANS?!" Usopp snapped, eyes blank and teeth shark-like.

"That's quite a simple relationship you all have…" Nami sweatdropped.

"It was around five or six years ago… They came here and barged onto my land after hearing rumors about me. They said, 'We think Norland's gold really exists!' The ocean around here is deep. This solitary feeling that haunts me gets even worse down there in the dark and cold of the sea. Day after day, I would dive down and search, all alone. And they simply barged into my life, proclaimed themselves my followers, and started rampaging around," Cricket explained as he looked at a wall, where a group photo of the three giving true smiles and basically having an hand/arm over their shoulders, "Watching such simple-hearted idiots...Honestly, they saved my life. You know what I mean?"

Many of the crew looked towards Luffy at that. Usopp covered his eyes as he was crying once more.

"I understand. So that's how it is. It means so much to a guy to have true friends like that."

"Well, enough about the monkeys."

"THEN DON'T ASK ABOUT THEM!" Usopp barked at Luffy, giving a Dope Punch to Luffy's head, "YOU BROUGHT IT UP!"

"Like I said!" Luffy threw Usopp away, "We want to go to Sky Island, Ossan!"

Cricket chuckled, "You're a pretty impatient guy. Didn't you hear me before? The only testimony about Sky Island is from Norland the Liar. You mess with him and you'll become a laughingstock like he was."

"But X says he's seen Sky Island," Luffy pointed out.

"?!" Cricket looked at X.

X nodded, "The seas are pure white, as if they were made from the clouds themselves. Islands seem to be made of clouds as well and I could barely see hints of what appeared to be tiny angel wings on the backs of everyone there, even the animals that shouldn't be capable of flight."

"..." Cricket pulled out an old book and tossed it to Nami after looking through it, "This belong to Norland."

"Sugoi. A logbook written over four hundred years ago…" Nami awed as she looked at the page, "'Year of the Sea 1120, June 21st, clear weather. We've departed the cheerful town of Villa. Following the Log Pose, we left port and headed northeast. We got a very curious artifact from a passing merchant this afternoon. It's called a "Waver" - a small, one-seated ship that looks like a ski.'" she ignored Roll and the Baka Trio's widening smiles of excitement as they got closer to hear better, "'It is powered by its own wind, even if there's none upon the sea. I could not control it well, as it requires a remarkable amount of skill. It's become the Crew's favorite recreational activity!' No way! I want one of those!"

"Same here, same here!" Roll was practically bouncing in place, "It sounds like a jet ski from back then!"

"NEVERMIND! JUST KEEP READING!" the Baka Trio demanded, eyes bulging and teeth shark-like with Chopper on Usopp's head.

"'I was told the only place that has this kind of engine is Sky Island. Apparently there are many strange things like this up there! Speaking of Sky Island, one of my fellow explorers once showed me a living Skyfish. I can't tell you how surprised I was to see such a fish,'" Nami continued to read, earning Sanji's attention at that part, "'It's a place our ship has never explored, but as a sailor, I would someday like to visit this sea in the sky. - Montblanc Norland.'" she looked up at the Baka Trio and Roll, "A sea in the Sky!"

"Just like Robin said!" Luffy cheered.

"And he was talking about it like everyone knew about it back then!" Usopp added as Chopper started cheering on his head before Roll caught him in his fall.

"So it really does exist!" Roll cheered as they started to cheer loudly...none noticing Cricket leave with a smile on his lips.

"Oh, Boss! How're you feeling?" Masira asked.

"Couldn't be better!" Cricket replied.

"That's a relief," Shoujou noted.

"Listen to me, you two. Do you like them?" Cricket asked.

"What makes you ask?" Shoujou asked.

"It looks like they really want to go to Sky Island."

"Sky Island? Well, if they're going, there's only one way to get up there," Shoujou replied.

"That'd be instant death if they try it alone, Boss!" Masira added.

"That's why I asked you. What do you say to giving them a hand?" Cricket crossed his arms with a smirk.

* * *

 **End Chapter 2. Read and Review.**


	3. Journey to Sky Island: Part 2

**Chapter 3: Journey to Sky Island Part 2**

* * *

"Why are you here again and not looking for the **South Bird**?" Masira asked, causing Roll to look up from her medical textbook.

"Well, Chopper and I agreed that Cricket-san may need to have one of us nearby in case he collapses from something we didn't notice in our initial care of him," Roll explained as she took off her reading glasses and closed her book with a bookmark on her page, "And I won Jaken."

"I see, I see…" Masira nodded, "I thought it was because you wanted to see what we're doing to the little lamb."

"Merry?" Roll pondered before she looked at the ship, where the three had removed most of the patches of new lumber and the other two were replacing the broken boards with new ones, "Well, I love that you guys are doing actual repairs to her."

"No problem!" Masira beamed, "Though...I'm not really good at it myself. I tend to break things more than fix them."

"It's fine, Masira," Roll assured, patting his arm in reassurance, "Everyone has something they're good at. But where did you take your ships?"

"Oh, bro and I sent them to get the parts needed to give the little lamb wings," Masira grinned before hearing a ship docking, "Oh! They're back already?" he ran off with Roll following, "Guys! That was the fas...hey…"

Bellamy chuckled as he crossed his arms over his chest. Behind him was his entire crew on their ship.

"...When did you guys get new haircuts?" Masira asked, causing Roll to trip a little.

"Masira...I don't think they're your crewmates," Roll noted, the thousands-of-years-old robot in the appearance of an older teenager giving a sweatdrop.

"I heard an old delusional fart by the name of Montblanc Cricket lives here," Bellamy stated, the grin never leaving his face, "Is he? My crew and I have some business with him."

"Old delusional fart? ...Hey! Boss isn't a fart!"

" _That's_ what you take offense with?" Roll deadpanned as Cricket and Shoujou approached.

"Oi. What's going on here?" Cricket demanded.

"Ah. So there you are," Bellamy noted, his grin growing a bit, "I'll just cut to the chase then. I heard you have some gold lying around here. You wouldn't mind if we take it off your hands, do ya? You delusional old fogey?"

"Ooi. Ooi. Don't mess with us, bro!" Shoujou growled as he and Masira began to crack their knuckles.

"Coming here in the middle of the night and want us giving you the gold?! That's impossible, ooookie. Go back now!-!-!" Masira growled.

"Why should we?" Bellamy countered, "We've heard the sad tale of the Montblanc family before...in truth…" Bellamy paused as he looked over at Cricket, "It moved me a bit. Treasure someone else struggled so hard for has a special flavor all its own!"

"...Do you eat gold? Because that sounded like you do," Roll noted.

Sarquiss laughed, "Oh, you've got something to you, girlie. How much for ya?"

"About the equivalent of Scrooge McDuck's monetary value," Roll replied, earning confused looks from almost everyone, "...In other words, _far_ more than you could afford even if you had all the money currently in the world." _'Note to self; draw those old comics about him that are in my memory data for the crew so they can understand that joke.'_

"Hmph. I don't have time to deal with brats like you," Cricket snorted, "Leave now and don't come back."

"...You know? You could've just let let us take the gold and spare you the beat down. But…" Bellamy began as a dark grin grew on his face, "Since you're all so delusional on myths and dreams, we'll have to beat you back to reality while we take what's ours! Get 'em, boys!"

His crew roared as they charged at the four. Cricket assumed his opening stance before lunging, delivering chops and kicks at the men and sending them scattering. Masira hooted and roared as he pulled out a barrel and split it down the middle to make a pair of barrel boxing gloves he began to use to punch the men as Shoujou cleared his throat while pulling out a mic. He inhale before letting out a loud wail, making the men that hadn't been hit cover their ears in pain before Roll used it to deliver a series of strikes with her metal broom. Bellamy's dark grin shrunk a little in annoyance at the sight.

"Well now, guess I have to join in," Bellamy noted, the dark grin becoming almost bloodthirsty, "Guess I'll get to show you why…" he threw his jacket off, "They call me 'The Hyena!'" he then got into a crouching position as he aimed at Masira from behind, his lower legs turning into springs, " **Spring...Snipe**!"

With that, he turned in a blur. He appeared, ramming his fist into Masira's back, causing him to cough up blood. Bellamy climbed up onto his face before his legs turned into springs once more. He shot off, sending Masira crashing into a tree from the recoil while slamming a fist into Shoujou's face, sending him tumbling as he shot off once again.

"?!" Cricket's eyes widened at that before he barely dodged Bellamy, who landed on the side of the Going Merry before shooting off it, breaking a part of it off before he slammed his fist into Cricket's face, sending him into the ground.

"Merry!" Roll gasped, _'Please let it not have broken her keel...Please let it not have broken her keel…'_

"That's our Bellamy!" the lone girl of Bellamy's crew cheered, she and Sarquiss having managed to not get hit in the fight from the four.

"Cricket-san! Masira! Shoujou!" Roll gasped before glaring at Bellamy, "An Akuma no Mi?"

"Ah. The girlie's smart," Bellamy chuckled, "I ate the **Bane Bane no Mi,** making me into a **Spring Human**."

"Any part of his body can become a spring," Sarquiss noted, "That's our Bellamy!"

"...Bellamy?" Roll repeated, "So you're the one who beat up Luffy, Zoro, and my brother."

"Hmm? What're you…?" Bellamy began, pondering for a moment before it hit him, "Oh! You must be a part of that weak little shit's crew then! Heh...makes sense that people like him would hang out with delusional idiots like Cricket here..but I guess that's what happens to people who follow such stupid things like dreams and die out at sea."

"You gonna go and cry to them?" Sarquiss mocked as he approached Roll while pulling out his nickname-sake.

"Nope," Roll seemed to be quite cheerful before her broom shot out, tripped Sarquiss, before smashing into his face, shattering his sunglasses, "Because _I_ called dibs on beating you up."

"...Heh. Surely you're shitting me, little girl," Bellamy noted.

"My brother mentioned you said, and I quote, that our parents did a poor job raising us," Roll stated, "I should have you know that I love my Papa very much and find that insult a very grave offense to him."

"Well...maybe he shouldn't have raised his kids into believing stuff like dreams then," Bellamy countered.

"Oh? What's wrong with dreams? Why without them, there wouldn't be things we have now such as the large ships that you seem to use to try to compensate for what you lack," Roll noted, "No Log Poses, no Transponder Snails...why, everything begins with a dream. Even you coming here. I bet right now you're dreaming of beating me up and you'll make it become reality."

"Overco…?!" Bellamy's eye twitched, "Why you little bitch…"

"No. That would be _your mother_ ," Roll quipped, adopting a French accent.

"...men, start raiding the place," Bellamy ordered as he got into a crouching position, "I need to teach this upstart little bitch a lesson."

"Oh please. I can beat you with just my broom, my head, and a sea shell," Roll scoffed, holding up said sea shell.

" **Spring…** " Bellamy's legs and waist turned into springs before shooting into the jungle behind them, rapidly springing about the trees, " **HOPPER!** "

"Heh. You're dead, girlie," Sarquiss grinned as he and the rest of Bellamy's crew began to walk towards Cricket's home.

"Now hold on," Roll noted as she watched the forest, seeing where Bellamy was hitting the trees, "I think you'd better watch this. It's not everyday you get to see your captain be defeated in just a press of a button and a strike to the back of the neck and between the legs by a broom."

"...Say what?" Sarquiss nearly laughed, "You shitting me, little girl?"

"Oh, I kid you not, my idiot of a brat," Roll replied as she continued to watch the jungle and Bellamy.

"...You're awfully cocky," Sarquiss noted with a frown before grinning a bit, "Aw what the hell. We gotta see this...if you survive, we'll take you as our personal handmaid."

"Oh please. From what I can see, your captain gains momentum through constantly springing about at a multitude of angles in the trees. Currently, he's moving at about 265 MPH and based upon the light marks on the trees left in his springs, the recoil is causing damage to what he springs off of." without looking, she pointed her broom at the girl, "Am I incorrect on what I've explained so far?"

"Y-You can tell that all from just watching him?" she asked.

"Oh...You think he's _fast_?" Roll nearly laughed, "Oh come now...Dear, another 'brother' of mine could reach Mach _5_ by just running. It's why we called him _Quick Man_. This is a simple jog to my eyes compared to him." as she continued watching, her robotic mind was running through calculations upon calculations based off angles, speed, weight, angular velocity, gravity, and minute set of other factors, "Add in that his abilities are roughly the same as another 'brother' of mine, well…" she made a line in the dirt beside her with the top of her broom as she kept watching, "...You'll see soon enough." she inhaled, "Hey, Bellamy the Mutt! Any reason why you don't like dreamers?"

"Simple! They're nothing but a clan of natural-born morons who believe in fish stories!" Bellamy shouted, "The city of gold? Sky island? The One Piece? All fake! The era of dreams is over for you, and the rest of those sad excuses of pirates lead by that weak shit Mugiwara! YOU'RE DISGRACES TO ALL PIRATES!"

"...Do you know why my brother, my captain, and the first mate didn't even bother with trying to fight you guys?" Roll questioned.

"Finish her off, Bellamy! Fools like her don't have the right to live in reality!" Sarquiss laughed.

"FAREWELL, BITCH!" Bellamy roared as he shot at Roll, shattering the tree he sprung off of, spinning into a spiral with his fist extended.

Roll moved to the left and pressed down on the button on her sea shell. Bellamy's eyes widened as he tumbled to the ground, a massive gash forming along his body like a spiral. Before he could let out a cry, Roll's broom slammed hard between his legs. Everyone heard a loud crunching sound as Bellamy's eyes popped out into points. Roll then spun her broom around before delivering the edge of the lower half of the broom right to Bellamy's neck. A loud snap was heard as he was sent crashing into a tree.

"...It's because you stuck with insults and throwing stuff at them," Roll answered her own question, flicking the blood off the edge of her broom, "Had you tried to kill Usopp, none of you would even be here now but in the ER."

A silence fell over Bellamy's crew as they just stared. Roll walked over to Cricket and his two subordinates as they were getting up and started to tend to them. Bellamy...was just slumped against the tree, his eyes blank with blood coming from his wounds.

"...Oi...Q-Quit it with the jokes, Bellamy," Sarquiss spoke, earning no response, "C'mon! Y-You're just playing around, right!?" no response, "Say something!" he began to tremble, "OI, BELLAMY! QUIT WITH THE STUPID GAMES!-! YOU HAVE A 55 MILLION BELI REWARD ON YOU FOR…!"

"My captain defeated a Shichibukai," Roll stated, causing them all to tense up, "I believe his name was Sir Crocodile with a Bounty of, oh yes, B _81,000,000_." she turned to them, pulling her broom out, "And what's more...There are roughly nine members of our crew. _Nine_ of us. So if our captain, a man worth B _30,000,000_ beat one worth 81,000,000, and he only has eight crewmates? How do you even know if _we_ are not just as tough and that he focuses more on _quality_ instead of _quantity_?"

"?!" Bellamy's crew trembled as the thoughts came to them.

"Take your idiot and get out of my sight," Roll narrowed her eyes, " _NOW!_ "

"G-Gaaaaaahh!" most of Bellamy's crew freaked as they began to hightail it out of there.

"S-Sarquiss, come on!" one of Bellamy's crew shouted as he tried to move the trembling Sarquiss.

"...G-grab Bellamy and let's get the hell out of here!" Sarquiss ordered before glaring at Roll, "This ain't over, you little bitch. You have no idea what can of worms you've opened up."

"...Humor me then," Roll replied, spinning the shell in her hand.

"It's true Crocodile was tough, but.." Sarquiss began as a pair of men carrying Bellamy ran past him, "He's nothing compared to Doflamingo."

"The Flamingo?" Roll repeated, "A flamingo is better than a man that can turn into sand who was on the verge of conquering an entire kingdom with a secret organization?"

"What? No! Not a flamingo. _DO_ flamingo!" Sarquiss argued, "...And where Crocodile failed in that...Doflamingo had already succeeded in it."

"Well...I'll be sure to study up on him," Roll replied, "Now get your idiot out of here before I do to you what I did to him with this shell but on just one specific part of you."

"...grr…" Sarquiss frowned as he followed the rest of Bellamy's crew.

"And now I feel _so_ much better," Roll smirked as the ship sailed away before turning to the three while putting a nurse's hat on, "Now you three stay still while I look over your bruises and wounds. I'll also need to check for any internal injuries from where he struck you three. You especially, Cricket-san."

"HAI!" Masira and Shoujou shivered.

"Bosses! We got the wings!" a voice called as Shoujou and Masira's crews approached on their ships.

"ABOUT TIME YOU GOT HERE!" Roll barked, "GET THOSE WINGS DOWN TO MERRY AND FIX HER UP! AND GET ME SOME MORE MEDICAL SUPPLIES!"

"AYE!' both crews yelped as they scrambled around on their decks.

Cricket laughed, "This crew is really surprising!"

* * *

"All this trouble for one bird…" X noted as the group emerged from the jungle just as the sun was rising in the sky, the blue robot carrying a dog-sized magenta bird with its colorful beak always pointing to the south, "Then again, it is rather interesting in how it constantly keeps its beak facing immediate south at all times. Even when tied up at that. Perhaps its neck has evolved to move in a perfect circle?"

"You forgot about the part where it kept summoning insects to attack us," Nami deadpanned, "Something I personally want to forget."

"….I'll admit, that was rather troublesome," X admitted, "...Though Luffy didn't seem bothered since he was also hunting for a Hercules Beetle if I recall."

"Beetle~!" Luffy cheered as he carried about a jar with said beetle in it, "Beetle~! I caught a Hercules Beetle~! Shishishishi!"

"Did you forget that we needed the South Bird more?" Usopp frowned.

"Says the guy who befriended all those…" Sanji shuddered, "...spiders."

"Hey. How was I supposed to know there were thirty different species of arachnid in there? And none of them would bite us unless they were provoked, you guys. Seriously. They're just as scared of us as we are of them."

Nami dope slapped him, "THAT DOESN'T MEAN YOU CAN KEEP A TARANTULA NEAR US!"

"Minna!" everyone looked to see Roll running up, "Welcome back!"

"Any trouble out here?" Zoro asked.

"Well...A little, but I took care of it," Roll assured with a smile.

"...That man Bellamy came by here, didn't he?" X asked

"Maybe," Roll replied, "Maybe not. I'll just let you figure it out for yourselves. Now come on! Merry's all ready for the Knock Up Stream!"

"Oh! Merry's ready?" Usopp asked.

The group went off to Cricket's home and soon came upon Merry. Her body was mostly repaired with only a few hints of metal plates on her frame. A large folded tail was connected to the back while a pair of swan wings made of wood extended from the sides. Merry's neck was covered in a wooden plume of 'feathers' while her head sported a waddle and a chicken's top.

"Ta-dah! Merry Aero-Model!" Roll declared.

"Ohh~! Sugei da!" Luffy awed, stars in his eyes, "It looks like it can fly~!"

"I thought so too!" Usopp agreed.

"Something about it doesn't seem right to me…" Nami admitted.

"Well, for once, I agree with you. Chickens don't even know how to fly. They should have made it a pigeon," Zoro nodded.

"WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED DO WITH ANYTHING, YOU DOPE?!" Nami snapped.

"Those were non-negotiable," Roll admitted, "But Merry still looks amazing."

"Agreed," X nodded a bit.

"Okay! Let's get this ship moving!" Usopp cheered, "You ready, men?!"

Masira, Shoujou, and their crews cheered. As they got Merry back into the water, Roll explained what had happened while they were in the jungle.

"You did that all by yourself?" Nami asked.

"Yep," Roll smiled as she pulled the seashell out, "I am so glad Luffy, Sanji, Zoro, and X-Niichan found this in that ship. It would've been a lot harder for me to beat that jerk without it."

Cricket took in a deep breath of his cigarette before exhaling slowly, "Get on your ship. You don't have much time. Are you all planning to lose your chance to go to Sky Island?"

"Right! Thanks for the ship!" Luffy grinned.

"You should thank those guys," Cricket pointed his thumb to Masira and Shoujou's ships where the two crews had gotten on them once they finished getting Merry back into the water.

"Arigatou, minna!" Luffy waved before holding up the large hercules beetle he caught, "You can have Hercules!"

"We can?!"

"That's so cool!"

"YOU'RE SUCH A NICE GUY!" both crews cheered.

"Anyway, hurry! Get on the ship!" Masira called, "We're gonna miss it!"

"We'll lead the way, so just follow us!" Shoujou added.

"You heard him! Let's hurry and set sail!" Nami declared.

"Aye, Nami-swan~!" Sanji saluted.

"You got it!" Usopp saluted as everyone started boarding the ship.

As they sailed away, Cricket walked up to the edge of the land, "Oi, kids! This is where we part ways."

"Yeah!" Luffy agreed as he poked his head over Merry's tail.

"But there is one thing I'm certain of. Not one person has proven that Sky Island or the City of Gold _doesn't_ exist," Cricket replied, "It may defy common sense, people may laugh at you...But who cares! That's what romance is all about!"

"Romance…" Luffy repeated with a large smile.

"Sou da!" Cricket confirmed.

"Be careful, Cricket-san!" Roll waved, "And don't you dare start diving again until you're healed up! I don't want salt water ending up in your wounds and causing an infection!"

"Sou da!" Cricket waved her off as he was taking them off already.

"Gah! He's just like you, Zoro!" Chopper gawked.

"Oi, I don't have a chestnut growing out of my head," Zoro frowned.

"See ya, Ossan!" Luffy waved.

"Thank you for everything, Cricket-san!" Nami thanked.

"Oyassan! I just _know_ that the City of Gold is real!" Usopp called.

"Don't overdo anything!" Roll called.

"Mind your own business!" Cricket called.

"Listen! It's now 7AM! We'll arrive at our destination by 11AM at best!" Masira called as the South Bird, chained to Merry, trembled, "Just like Boss said, the location of the Knock Up Stream is different every time! So we need to get there before it happens and determine its exact location!"

"Watch, watch, watch!" Luffy grinned as he turned the South Bird's head to the east.

"ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO ME?!"

Luffy let go of its head and the South Bird's head sprung back to the south instantly, "See? It went back!"

"Man, this is one strange bird," Usopp noted as Chopper nodded while Roll tilted her head in interest.

"He really can't face any direction but south…" Roll observed as Luffy continued to laugh.

"Ignore those four. We're listening," Nami assured while the South Bird gave a strange squawk.

"What did he say, Chopper?" Usopp asked.

"'I'll look some other way than south and throw you jerks off course!'" Chopper translated.

Luffy laughed, "I dare ya!" the South Bird turned its head north, giving a laugh-like noise, "Oh! He's facing north!" the South Bird sweated heavily before finally caving in and facing south.

"I guess you don't feel comfortable without facing south, huh?" Roll asked.

"It seems like it," Robin noted as she turned the blank book in her hand to show a sketch of the South Bird, "It's rather fascinating."

"Oh! Sugei!" Roll applauded.

"Well, we've got four hours until we get there. Any ideas to pass the time?" Usopp asked before holding a hand up when Luffy, Shoujou, and Masira opened their mouths, "NO SINGING! WE DON'T HAVE ENOUGH RUM ON THE SHIP TO BLOCK IT OUT!"

"Aw~" the trio whined.

"We could tell some stories to pass the time," Roll suggested, "Right, X?"

"..."

"...X?"

"Hmm?" X blinked a bit, turning around to face Roll, "Yes?"

"You okay?" Roll asked.

"...Somewhat," X answered as he looked back at the ocean, "I don't know who, but someone is following us."

"..."

"Before you answer, no. It is not Bellamy nor his crew," X answered before Roll could even ask, "I can't pinpoint it, but...I'm feeling a rather...foreboding feeling from whoever's following us."

"Foreboding?" Usopp gulped, his knees starting to shake, "H….how foreboding?"

"Like darkness itself is following us."

"...is it too late to turn back now?"

Everyone but X and Roll just pointed at Luffy, who was looking out ahead in glee.

"...Right, right. Stupid question."

* * *

"We still have about an hour or so left until we get there," Roll noted as her inner clock turned to 10AM before she looked over at Luffy, "Hey, Luffy?"

"What's up?" Luffy asked as he ran over, dropping his marker.

"I've been curious. You're made of rubber, right?"

"Yep!" Luffy beamed, stretching his cheeks, "See?"

"Well...You mean _all_ of your body is made of rubber?" Roll asked, "Like, say...your blood or bones?"

"Huh? Blood? Bones?" Luffy blinked twice.

"Yes," Roll nodded.

"Um…" Luffy pursed his lips in thought before opening his mouth, grabbed a tooth, and pulled...the tooth stretching out, "Oh! S'ug'! (Sugei!)" he let it go and it went back into place, "I didn't think of that!" he grabbed her wrist, "Oi, Roll! Help me think of new things!"

"Eh?" Roll blinked twice.

"What are those two doing?" Usopp pondered as he looked up from his 'lab' for a moment before X made him look back.

"Careful, Usopp. This is the volatile stage," X advised.

"Ulp...R-Right," Usopp gulped nervously.

X nodded as he watched Usopp work, "Are you certain you do not need me to do this part?"

"I'm sure," Usopp assured, "These new shots you're helping me develop are amazing, X. E-Even if the reaction is volatile for this latest one…"

X nodded, "But it will be one of the best ones to help with you being the Master Gunner of the ship."

"...Master Gunner?" Usopp repeated.

"Yes," X nodded, "While you all seem to have primary roles, there are some on the ship that apparently have a secondary role. For you, you're our Master Gunner and our Carpenter, the one who tends to and mends the ship. Nami is our Navigator, but also our Quartermaster since she often deals out the punishments and divides the money we obtain."

"Master Gunner?" Usopp repeated before grinning, " _Master Gunner_? Oh, I love that! Master Gunner Usopp!"

"Ah, Usopp!" X yelped as the vial started bubbling.

"Ah!" Usopp screamed as he threw the vial overboard, a large pillar of water erupting moments later from where it landed in the water, "...Okay...G-Gotta be more careful…"

X just gave a nod of agreement. After roughly ten minutes, everyone heard something strike flesh and Luffy giving a cry.

"YOU IDIOT!" everyone looked to see Roll dragging Luffy off to go under the ship, a large bump on top of his head, "Chopper! I need a second opinion on Luffy's idiocy on something he just did!"

"But it was your idea~!" Luffy whined.

"IT WAS NOT!" Roll barked, eyes blank and teeth shark like as Chopper ran over.

 ***WHACK!***

"OW!-!-! How can you hurt me like Jii-chan?!"

"What's that about?" Usopp pondered once the three were inside.

"From the week or so I have gotten to know Luffy...he most likely did something that would have caused him to fall overboard," X replied, "Though from the time I've spent with my sister, it may have been something that would harm even Luffy."

"Good point," Usopp agreed with a nod, "But what could Luffy have done to make her so upset? And did he say his grandpa can hurt him and that Roll knows how to do it too?"

"We can ask later," X replied as he picked up a dropper and added a single drop of its contents into their current vial, causing it to turn white, "Ah. There it goes."

"Yes!" Usopp beamed, "Okay. Now we need to be careful and pour it into the balls…"

X nodded before the two began to carefully pour the mixture into small hollowed out balls. Once the last of them was filled, both exhaled held breaths and carefully loaded them into an empty pouch.

"Boss!"

"What is it?!" Masira demanded.

"Night approaching from the southwest! It's a Cumuloregalis Cloud!"

"Really?! What time is it?!"

"10AM! Much earlier than we predicted!"

"This is bad…" Masira scowled before looking over at his brother's ship, "Shoujou! Can you make it!?"

"Wootan Divers, get into the water!" Shoujou gave out his response, "Find that current!"

"Wootan Divers?" Nami repeated as a group of men jumped off Shoujou's ship, wearing strange black suits with a cable connected to their heads.

"Why would they do that?" X pondered before seeing Shoujou giving a cry into a microphone, "...oh. Echolocation!"

"Echo-what?" Zoro asked.

"He's sending out waves of sound into the water. Those waves will bounce off things and return to the divers," X explained, "But why are they looking for a current?"

"No idea," Zoro shrugged.

"So that's a Cumuloregalis cloud…" Nami observed the large, pitch black clouds ahead of them.

"What's going on?" Chopper asked in Heavy Point as he and Roll ran out, both grinding something up in stone bowls in their hands.

"The Cumuloregalis cloud showed up earlier than expected," Nami explained, "And we still don't know where the Knock Up Stream will be!"

"Echo confirmed!" a Wootan diver shouted as he surfaced with others, "Strong ocean current a 12 o'clock!"

"Large creature identified at 9 o'clock! Could be a Sea King!"

"Wave opposing the current flow at 10 o'clock! It could be a whirlpool!"

"THAT'S IT!" Masira shouted, "All ships change heading to 10 o'clock! That's where the explosion will be! Find the whirlpool and don't back out!"

"We'll have to put the medicine to the side," Roll noted.

"Uhn," Chopper nodded as the two ran inside and came out with an excited Luffy seconds later just as massive waves began to send Merry up and down like a roller coaster.

"What is this…?!" Zoro demanded.

"The waves are getting rougher!" Roll exclaimed as she grabbed onto the mast.

"WE'RE GONNA SINK~!" Usopp screamed.

"THE EXPLOSION'S GONNA HAPPEN SOON! STAY ALERT!" Masira shouted.

"E-EXPLOSION?!" Nami freaked.

"Miss Navigator!" Robin called, "What does the Log Pose say?"

Nami looked at it and then at the storm cloud above them, "It's pointing straight to the cloud!"

"Sky Island's really up there?" Usopp gulped as X linked to his satellite once more.

"...Yes. It's up there," X confirmed, "Nami?"

Nami nodded, "Judging from the wind, the Cumuluoregalis cloud will head straight over the whirlpool!"

"Oi, what whirlpool?" Luffy asked...before Merry ended up getting caught in a massive whirlpool.

"THIS ONE!" Roll, Chopper, and Usopp screamed.

"Get as close to the center of the whirlpool as you can and don't back out!" Masira cheered.

"From how rough it is, this is the perfect Knock Up Stream to get you up there!" Shoujou called as both ships began to back away, "Good luck!"

"WE'RE GETTING SUCKED IN~!" Usopp sobbed before seeing a Sea King get sucked into it, its head being torn from its neck from the strong current, "GAH!"

"BYE~!" Luffy waved, "Thanks for getting us here, guys~!-! Take care of Hercules!"

"WAAAIIIT~~~!-!-!" Usopp screamed, "AH!-! LET US GO!-! THIS IS TOO TERRIFYING!-!-!"

"YOU NEVER SAID WE HAD TO GO _INTO_ IT!" Nami sobbed.

"Don't worry! Nami-swan, Robin-chwan, Roll-chan! I'll protect you three!"

"I've never seen a whirlpool this large," Robin began to sweat.

"This is interesting," X noted.

"The last time I saw one this big was on a video of Rock fighting Splashwoman," Roll compared.

"WE'LL DIE FOR SURE IF WE GO IN THERE!-!-!" Usopp cried.

"YAH~~~YAH YAH YAH YAH YAH YAH~~~!-!-!" Chopper wailed in fear.

"CHOH~~~!" the South Bird cried.

"YOU NEVER MENTIONED THAT THE WHIRLPOOL WOULD BE THIS BIG! LIAR, LIAR~~~!-!-!" Nami sobbed.

"Ah! The cloud's so thick that it's become 'nighttime!'" Roll gasped.

"THE WHIRLPOOL'S PULL IS BECOMING STRONGER!" Chopper screamed, hugging onto her leg in pure terror.

"We gotta pull out, Luffy!" Usopp pleaded, "We can still make it! You understand, right?! This whirlpool alone is enough to kill us! Sky Island's just a dream within a dream! A fantasy of a fantasy!"

"A dream within a dream? A fantasy of fantasies?" Luffy repeated before nodding, "I guess so…"

"That's right, Luffy!" Nami agreed, "I don't think I can do this either!"

"An island from within a dream within a dream...I could never pass up a great adventure like this!"

"He...He's having fun…" Usopp sobbed.

"If we miss this, then we'll regret not doing this for the rest of our lives!" Luffy declared.

"Oi, while you three were doing your fruitless complaints…"

"Fruitless?!" Usopp repeated as Zoro pointed ahead...where Merry was entering the whirlpool's center.

"We entered the center."

"Now, Nami-swan~! Press yourself against my chest~!" Sanji encouraged.

"WE'RE FALLING~!" Usopp wailed before Merry landed on still water.

"...The whirlpool vanished," Sanji blinked twice.

"No way...j-just...how?" Roll blinked, "That...that shouldn't even be scientifically possible for such a massive whirlpool to just vanish like that."

"No…" everyone looked at Nami, who was looking at the floor with wide eyes, "It's already started! The bottom of the whirlpool was stopped by the sea floor."

"Y...You don't mean…" Usopp gulped.

"...?!" X turned to look behind them, "It's closer now."

"That darkness you were feeling before?" Zoro asked, earning a nod from X.

"HOLD IT!" a voice called as everyone looked to see a boat shaped like a wooden raft approach, carrying the large man, the sickly man, a large man wearing a wrestler's mask, and a lanky man carrying a rifle with a monocle on his left eye, "ZEHAHAHAHAHA! We've caught up to you! Mugiwara no Luffy!"

"AH! Those are the guys from Mock Town!" Usopp exclaimed.

"I've come for your 100,000,000 Beli head!" the man declared, "Give yourself up!"

"Eh?" Luffy blinked at that before calling out to him, "Oi! What do you mean '100 million!?'"

"You may have gotten a recent bounty increase," Roll noted.

"She is correct," X spoke, narrowing his eyes a bit to get a better look at the wanted posters the man was holding up, "'Mugiwara no Luffy: 100 Million. Pirate Hunter Zoro: 60 Million.'"

"Oh! You have telescopes in your eyes, too?!" Luffy awed, stars in his eyes.

"Let's see…" Usopp lowered his goggles and started twisting the rims, "Oh! He's right! Those are your bounties…" he shot his goggles up and stared at Zoro, "YOU HAVE ONE NOW?!"

"What?! Oi, hold on! What about me?!" Sanji demanded.

"I do not see one for you, Sanji," X replied, "Just Luffy and Zoro."

"Same here," Usopp nodded.

"...Look closer."

"None/Nope."

"Did they increase because of what we did in Alabasta?" Nami pondered, "But 100,000,000?"

"Whoo-hoo! 100,000,000! Hear that? I'm worth so much now!" Luffy cheered as Zoro crossed his arms and grinned himself.

"I'm a little disappointed at 60,000,000!" Zoro admitted.

"YOU TWO! QUIT ENJOYING THIS!" Nami snapped, an anger mark on her head, her eyes blank, and teeth shark-like as she pointed at them.

"Should I fire at their ship?" X asked, turning his arm into its X Buster.

"It looks weird," Roll admitted.

"Oi, you guys!" Shoujou called from his ship nearby, "Don't forget what you're doing!"

"The Knock Up Stream…" Chopper recalled as Merry started to rise up on a rising bubble of water.

Eh? Nanda?" the man raised a brow before his ship began to move away from the rising water, "Woah!"

"Everyone brace yourselves or get under the deck!" X shouted.

"THE SEA'S GONNA EXPLODE!" Usopp screamed.

"Ah! Chopper, don't get too close to the railing!" Roll yelped before arms sprouted from the deck in a line, grabbed Chopper, and sent him down to grab onto the mast, "Ah!" she looked over at the mast to see Robi uncrossing her arms as the arms that were on the deck vanished into flower petals, "Robin-san…"

"Sugei! We're up so high so far!" Luffy cheered, seeing Masira and Shoujou's ships over the railing, "Oi! Masira and Shoujou's ships looks like ants!"

"LUFFY!" Zoro barked, grabbing Luffy and pulling him into the cabin.

The water burst as a massive stream of water erupted from it. X managed to see the man's raft-shaped ship shattered from the eruption.

 _'That man...who is he really? Wait..is he...sinking? But h...another Akuma no Mi user,'_ X realized.

"W-What the hell's going on?!" Usopp freaked, "The ship's sailing straight up the surface of the water stream!"

"Oh-ho-hooh~! This is awesome!" Luffy cheered.

"HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT?!" Usopp cried.

"Yosh! Now we'll make it to the sky!" Luffy whooped.

"Nami, can you feel that?" Roll asked.

"The wind," Nami nodded before turning to Robin, standing on the mast while holding Chopper, "Robin, can you unfurl the sails?"

"IKE! MERRY!" Luffy cheered.

"Ahh! Lots of stuff is falling!" Chopper freaked as various ship debris began to fall around the Going Merry.

"IT'S THE VICTIMS OF PREVIOUS KNOCK UP STREAMS!" Usopp cried.

"Miss Navigator, why do you need me to do this?" Robin asked as sprouted arms were at work unfurling the sails.

"This isn't just a column of water...This is an ocean to itself! A vertically flowing current!" Nami explained, "The wind that's blowing us up was caused by the explosion of geothermal heat and steam! A vertically-blowing air current! If we've got wind and an ocean, then I can navigate it!"

"Sails unfurled," Robin confirmed.

"Someone get to the rudder so that we can catch the wind from the starboard side!" Nami ordered, "Bring the hull in line with the current!"

"Ah! Merry falling out of the water! We're gonna fall!" Usopp screamed as X managed to get to the controls and turned the ship.

"No, we're not!" Nami replied as Merry came out of the water...and began to fly up into the sky.

"SUGEI~~~! WE'RE FLYING!" Luffy cheered.

"She's flying! She's really flying!" Roll awed.

"MERRY CAN FLY!-!-!" Usopp cheered, holding onto the railing.

"I did it!" Nami grinned.

"NAMI-SWAN~! I LOVE YOU~!"

"Don't ruin the moment, Ero-cook."

"URUSEI, MARIMO!"

"If we sail along this current using this wind, we can go as high as we want!" Nami declared.

"Oi, Nami! Are we gonna make it to Sky Island?!" Luffy asked.

"If it really exists, it's just beyond that cloud!" Nami declared as she pointed ahead, _'X, you better be right!'_

"Beyond that cloud, eh?" Luffy noted as he looked up, a grin growing on his face, "What could be up there?! Let's plunge through the clouds!"

Minutes later, Luffy wasn't sure if he regretted it or not. He was not aware that clouds were so full of water! After a few minutes trying to breathe, the Going Merry erupted from the clouds, the wings being torn off from the force of emerging from them. X emerged from the cabin as Roll was giving Nami CPR until the orange-head began to cough up water.

"Are you okay?" X asked as he helped Nami up.

"Y-Yeah…" Nami coughed as Roll ran into the cabin to grab some towels, "I knew clouds were made from water molecules in the air, but to think they had that much water…"

"Damn...what the hell happened?" Zoro panted as he got up into a sitting position nearby, "Everyone still here?"

"Oi, minna! Take a look! Look around the ship!" Luffy cheered excitedly.

Everyone began to look. All around them were nothing but white clouds. Merry was even sailing along them.

"What is all this?" Sanji pondered.

"It's _soooo_ white!" Luffy exclaimed.

"Clouds!" Chopper awed in shock as Roll came out of the cabin with some towels.

"We're actually on top of the clouds?" Nami pondered in surprise as Roll began to hand out the towels to dry everyone.

"How are we floating on them?" X pondered.

"Sure we can float on them. They're clouds," Luffy stated, earning a dope slap from Zoro, Sanji, and Chopper.

"No, we can't," all three replied.

"Roll, Chopper, Usopp isn't breathing," X stated, "Beginning CPR."

"Ah! Hang on, Usopp!" Chopper screamed as he ran over.

"He must have inhaled the water when he was screaming," Roll observed before Usopp released a spray of water into the air, "Called it."

"The clouds…" Usopp groaned before he took noticed of his surroundings and got up fully, his eyes popping out of his head and tongue flailing, "NANI?! CLOUDS! T-Too many clouds! What's going on?!"

"Somehow, we're sailing on clouds," Roll explained before looking at where the wings of Merry were, "Oh...Poor Merry," she looked at where the wings had been torn off, "You looked adorable with those, too."

"You could consider this a sea of the sky," Nami noted.

"Sea of the sky?" Usopp repeated.

"Why is the Log Pose still pointing up?" Nami pondered as Robin walked over, drying her hair.

"We seem to be in the middle layer of the Cumuloregalis cloud," Robin noted.

"So we have to go higher? How?" Chopper asked.

"That I do not know," Robin replied.

"An ocean…" Usopp whispered before climbing onto the side of the ship.

"...What're you doing?" X asked before Usopp removed the upper half of his clothes.

"For his first course, Master Gunner Usopp is going for a swim!" Usopp declared as he posed on the railing.

"Oh! You can do it, Usopp!" Luffy cheered with Chopper.

"Oi, oi, oi! Don't do anything stupid!" Sanji advised.

"He's right," X nodded as he grabbed a long rope and tied part onto Usopp's waist and the other to the railing, "We're on clouds right now. If you try to jump the ship now, there's not a bottom to the clouds."

"...No bottom?" Usopp paled.

"He is correct," Robin nodded, "If you had attempted to swim to the bottom, you would most likely end up falling into the ocean or solid ground."

"So morbid…" Usopp shuddered.

"At least with this, you can swim around and not fall," Roll noted.

"I wanna swim, too…" Luffy pouted.

"Uhn…" Chopper nodded, "But we can't because of our Akuma no Mi."

"...Okay...a quick swim, and it's back on board," Usopp whispered as he dove in...only to come shooting back up screaming, "Ah! Not safe! Not safe!"

"What's wrong?" Nami asked as Usopp scurried up the rope and onto the deck...before a massive octopus Sea King emerged from the clouds.

"Oh! Those guys wanna eat Usopp!" Luffy figured out, seeing a small barracuda-like Sea King as well.

"Tch. You don't have to be scared of this!" Zoro growled as he jumped at one and swung one of his katana...before the tentacle he had cut exploded with the octopus starting to deflate.

"Nan de?" Sanji pondered before jumping up and kicking the barracuda Sea King, knocking it out and back into the cloud sea.

"Man...this place…" Zoro panted as he and Sanji landed back on the deck, "...sure takes the breath out of you…"

"That's because there's less oxygen the higher we get," Roll replied, "Less oxygen means your techniques will need to use more energy. I bet if X hadn't tied that rope to Usopp, Luffy would be just like you two if he had to stretch his arm into the clouds to save him."

"Sky island scary...sky island scary...sky island scary…" Usopp whispered, shaking like a leaf as he held his legs against his chest.

"With these strange animals, it makes it much more believable that this is actually an ocean in the sky," Robin observed, "They may have adapted to living in these clouds for centuries."

"I'd bet Charles Darwin would have a conniption if he ended up here…" Roll sweatdropped.

"GAH! Something bit me!" Usopp freaked as he shot up, reaching into his pants and pulled out a seafoam green flat-ish fish.

"Would you say this is a Skyfish?" Robin pondered as she picked it up, "The strange fish Norland mentioned in his Logbook?"

"Since this 'sea' doesn't have a bottom, they must have adapted to that in different ways," X observed.

"So they turned all balloon-like and flat and stuff?" Zoro asked.

"Most likely," Robin nodded as Luffy took the fish and ran off, "The Buoyancy here is weaker than in the oceans below."

"That explains why its scales look like feathers and why it's a carnivore," Nami noted as Luffy was munching on the now-cooked fish.

"I sauted it," Sanji stated.

"This is great!" Luffy cheered.

"WE'RE NOT DONE OBSERVING IT YET!" Nami snapped, "What do you guy think you're doing?!"

"I'll look around for any more," X spoke as he removed the rope from Usopp and tied it onto his body.

"What are you doing?" Roll asked as Chopper sat on a broken wing, binoculars in hooves.

"I'm looking for Sky Island," Chopper replied, "Oh, a boat. A shi-Oi, minna! There's a ship!"

"Someone else got up here on that stream? But how?" Roll pondered before Chopper gasped.

"EH?!" Chopper exclaimed, a frightened look on his face.

"Oi, Chopper, what's wrong?" Sanji asked.

"Easy now, Chopper," Roll advised as she caught Chopper as he fell over, "Take a deep breath and say what you saw."

"T-The ship near us blew up!"

"Eh? H-"

"Someone is heading this way," X spoke up, "Someone in a mask….riding on the clouds?"

"A mask?" Sanji repeated before seeing the figure as it got within their sights, "A bull?"

"Oi, who are you?" Zoro demanded as the man jumped into the air at Merry.

"I shall reject you!" the man declared.

"...looks like he wants to fight," Sanji frowned.

"Fine by me," Zoro said as he gripped one of his sheathed swords.

Sanji prepared to swing a kick before the man was before him, slamming one of his strange devices on his feet into him and knocked Sanji into the wall of the cabin. He jumped and slammed a foot onto Zoro's head, knocking him flat on his face before jumping high into the air and aiming a cannon he had at the ship.

"Ah! He's gonna shoot Merry!" Chopper freaked.

"Sky Island scary...Sky island scary…" Usopp whimpered, his eyes completely white as tears of fear rolled down his face.

"X Buster!"

 ***BOOM!***

The man grunted in pain as he dropped the flaming remains of his cannon. X fired another blast and the man whipped out a shield that had Roll think of riot shields from the past. The blast struck the shield, creating another explosion. The man erupted from the smoke, his mask starting to break as evident from the cracks on it. He narrowed his eyes at X for a moment before he began to retreat. X waited until the man was gone and fully out of _his_ sight before reverting his bust arm to normal.

"...Now I'm really glad we have your brother here," Nami whispered to Roll, who nodded.

"...He'll be back," X spoke, "The way that man fought..it almost seemed like Guerilla warfare."

"Gorilla war-fair?" Luffy tilted his head, imagining gorillas at a fair playing the card game War.

"It's better known as 'hit and run,'" Roll shorted.

"...Oi! That bull guy is a coward!" Luffy snapped.

"He's actually known as the Berserker," a voice noted, causing everyone to turn to the opposite side of the ship to see an elderly man in knight's armor and a blue cape…riding on a giant pink bird, "I am the Knight of the Sky. I am impressed with you, blue warrior. You were able to force him into retreating."

X nodded.

"What's going on here? Just who was that?" Nami asked.

"Just a troubled youth is all..." the Sky knight responded, "Now tell me, are you Blue Sea People?"

"Eh? Blue Sea People?" Roll repeated.

"It's what we call those who live beneath the clouds," the Sky Knight replied, "In other words, did you come up here from the blue seas?"

"We do," Luffy nodded.

"Then that explains it," the Sky Knight noted, "This is the White Sea, 7,000 meters in the air. The White-White Sea even further above reaches 10,000 meters high. Ordinary Blue Sea People can't possibly endure it here."

"...That explains why those guys are recovering so quick," Roll deadpanned, seeing at Zoro and Sanji getting up and looking like they were breathing normally.

"I have to know! How was that guy running on top of the clouds?" Chopper asked.

"Now now. Hold on," the Sky Knight spoke up as he sat down, "I'm sure you all have many questions, but let's talk business first."

"Business?"

"I'm a freelance soldier-for-hire," the Sky Knight explained, "You see, these seas are fraught with danger. If you don't know how to fight in the sky, Guerillas like that one will come after you and turn you into food for the Skyfish. But I'll be willing to help for 5,000,000 Extol for one Whistle."

"...What's an Extol, sir?" Roll asked, "Is there a conversion rate with Beli?"

"Hmm?" the Sky Knight blinked at that, "Excuse me, but you came here via the summit of High-West, did you not?"

"...There was another way here?!" Nami's eye twitched.

"We came up through the Knock Up Stream, sir," Roll explained.

The Sky Knight's eyes widened in shock, "To think that there would be souls brave enough to endure the Knock Up Stream…"

"So it wasn't the normal route...I knew it…" Nami collapses, tears falling from her cheeks likes waterfalls. Her eyes then twitched as she grabbed Luffy and began to shake him, "WE COULD'VE DIED, YOU ASS!"

"We're here anyway, right? Right?" Luffy asked between shakes.

"JUST BARELY!" Nami snapped, her eyes blank and teeth shark-like.

"By the way…" the Sky Knight spoke up, catching their attention, "Did you lose any of your crew?"

"Eh?" Luffy pondered as Nami stopped shaking him before looking around, "Mmmm...Nope. We have everyone right here."

"I see," the Sky knight noted, "That wouldn't have been the case with any other route...100 people head into the sky, a few arrive, and someone survives. That is the gamble. But with the Knock-Up Stream, everyone dies or everyone arrives. That's it. Not many can make that all-or-nothing bet, especially these days. I now see that you are capable navigators with courage and skill."

"That was all her," Roll pointed to Nami.

"Shishishishishi! I've got the best navigator!" Luffy beamed.

"That is true, but…" Usopp paused as he stood up, "I must admit it was also because I was here! While these guys were on their knees crying and giving up on life, I was being brave and offered to navigate in Nami's stead!"

 ***whap***

"No. Bad. Bad tengu," Roll scolded as Usopp twitched on the deck, a smoking bump on his head from Roll's broom.

"...Here," the Sky Knight spoke up, pulling out a small gold whistle before tossing it to the deck of the ship, "One blow of this **One Whistle** , and I will come to your aid. Normally I would charge five million Extol, but I will give you the One Whistle as a present."

"Wait! We don't even know your name!" Nami called as the Sky Knight approached his ride.

"I am the Knight of the Sky, **Gan Fall** ," the man replied, "And this is my partner, **Pierre**."

"PIEH~~!-!-!" the bird squawked.

"One more thing I forgot to mention. My partner Pierre…" Gan Fall paused as the bird began to change shape, "Is a bird that ate a Uma-Uma no Mi, gaining its abilities. In short, he becomes a horse with wings!"

"A...A pegasus?!" Nami gasped.

"Yes, a pegasus!" Gan Fall declared...riding a pink and brown polka dotted pegasus.

"...How….unexciting," most of the Strawhats deadpanned.

"...This is rather interesting," X noted.

"May luck be with you, warriors!" Gan Fall declared as Pierre flew off.

"Well that was certainly strange…" Sanji admitted.

"And by the way...was there any point to it transforming?" Nami questioned.

"I think he wanted to give us a memorable exit," Roll sweatdropped, "I just wished he hadn't also ruined a childhood dream of seeing a pegasus for me by having it pink with polka dots…"

"In the end, he really didn't tell us much," Robin noted as she picked up the One Whistle.

"So how do we get higher?" Zoro scowled.

"Yosh! We can call Ossan and ask him!" Luffy beamed before Nami and Roll clonked him upside the head with their fist/broom, "GAH!"

"That whistle is only to be blown in case of an emergency!" Nami barked.

"What if that weirdo in the mask shows up again and X can't fire his beam?!" Usopp added in.

"Oi! Beams never run out!" Luffy argued.

"ACK!" Usopp froze, "I disrespected the beam?!"

"You disrespected the beam!"

"...Should I tell them that thanks to all the sunlight we're going to have above the clouds that we won't have to worry about my Buster or X's Buster running out for a long while?" Roll whispered to Nami as the two watched as Luffy scolded Usopp and Usopp pleading for forgiveness to the 'beam.'

"...Nah," Nami replied, "Though what were you upset with Luffy about earlier?"

"Hm?" Roll blinked twice before her eyes widened, "Ah! That's right! Chopper-san! We still need to make that medicine!"

"Hm? Gah! You're right!" Chopper exclaimed as the two ran back into the cabin of Merry before coming out with medical supplies and began to resume grinding whatever they were on the deck.

"Luffy, you are not allowed to try that again until we're done with this, understood?" Roll demanded.

"Huh? Try wh...oh!" Luffy beamed as he bent his knees, "The new trick!"

 ***WHAM***

"I JUST SAID NO!" Roll barked at Luffy, the captain now sporting a rather large bump on his noggin.

"Ow…" Luffy groaned.

"...Hmm?" X blinked for a moment when he noticed something in the distance, "...interesting. That cloud looks like a waterfall."

"What cloud?" Zoro asked.

"That one up ahead," X replied as he pointed ahead, a series of clouds forming a waterfall look in the distance.

"It does look like a waterfall," Robin agreed.

"Yosh, that's that then," Zoro nodded as he pointed at the cloud, "We'll go over there."

* * *

"So what did you guys make and why did you have to make it?" Usopp asked as their doctor and nurse walked up to him and Luffy.

"We had to make some medicine to help Luffy not kill himself with this new technique he's making," Roll replied as Chopper gave Luffy a small bag.

"Oh! Candy!" Luffy beamed as he pulled out a reddish-pink ball from the bag.

"Aren't these your Rumble Balls, Chopper?" Usopp asked.

"These are based off it," Chopper replied with a nod as Roll shoved her broom into Luffy's mouth just as he was about to eat the whole bag, "But they're made specifically for Luffy. He'll need to eat at least one with every meal he has."

"Which is why we're giving you just one for now," Roll informed as she took the bag back, "If you eat more than one with every meal, you'll end up like you just got your power, Luffy."

"What?! I don't wanna hit myself in the face with my Gomu Gomu no Pistol again!" Luffy exclaimed.

"Wh-What?" Usopp snorted back a laugh.

"It's why I only use a Rumble Ball when I need one for something important and never eat more than one every six hours," Chopper noted, "If I eat two in a row, I can't choose the form I turn into during the three minutes. But with the ones Roll and I prepared using our combined medicinal knowledge, Luffy just has to finish the bag to mitigate, if not fully negate, the drawbacks of what he's developing."

"Ah. ….So it's a Mystery Candy," Luffy nodded as if that explained everything.

 _'Papa, give me strength from the afterlife to deal with Luffy…'_ Roll thought, tears going down her cheeks.

"Oi, oi! Chotto matte!" Nami called out.

"What's going on?" Usopp asked.

"Some large clouds are blocking our path," Robin replied.

"What do we do?" Chopper asked.

"They're floating above the Sky Sea, so they can't be part of it," Sanji noted.

"What kind of clouds are they then?" Usopp questioned.

"If they're ordinary clouds, we can just sail through them," Nami suggested.

"..." X looked at the clouds, his eyes internally magnifying the view, "...That's not a good idea, Nami-san. These clouds are more solid than they appear. In truth, trying to sail through them would be like sailing in mud or gravel."

"Eh? Clouds are made of mud and gravel?" Luffy pondered before shooting his arm out at the cloud, "Gomu Gomu no...PISTOL!"

 ***boing~***

"Ah! It bounced off!" Luffy exclaimed before he jumped off Merry and began to bounce on the cloud, "Look! I'm bouncing~! I'm not sinking! It's so soft! Just like cotton!"

"..." Roll fidgeted as she watched Luffy bounce about, _'It...It does look like fun…'_

"What is it? What is it? It's almost _too_ fun!" Luffy laughed.

"SUGEIIIIIII~~~!-!-!-!" Chopper cried out, his eyes popping out, his jaw dropped, and his tongue flailing like a flag as sparkles were all over his face.

"What a strange phenomenon," Nami noted.

"Quite mysterious," Robin agreed.

"I'm going too!" Usopp cheered as he jumped onto the clouds.

"Me too!" Chopper shouted in excitement as he soon joined.

"They're more like kids. Oi! Act your age!" Zoro called.

"This is rather interesting. Were clouds always like this, Roll?" X asked, earning silence, "...Roll?" he looked between him and Nami to see nothing, "...Roll?"

"Ahhh~This feels so nice~" Roll cooed as she laid on the cloud, nuzzling into it.

"...It seems not," X sweatdropped.

"It's so warm, I might fall asleep," Luffy agreed beside Roll, "It's more comfortable than a thousand hammocks."

"It's more comfortable than a memory foam mattress," Roll mewled, "We should grab as much of this as we can to make beds with~"

"I don't think that they'd last too long out of here," Nami sweatdropped before shaking her head, "But this means we can't just sail through these clouds." she inhaled, "Hey! Look for a route that Merry can use while you're up there!"

"Hai~!" Roll replied as she caught a bouncing, laughing Chopper.

"Hey, do you think these taste like cotton candy?" Chopper asked.

"Probably not," Roll replied before grinning as she let go of Chopper and began to bounce off, "First one to find a route for Merry is the Bounce Master of the clouds!"

"I thought she'd the mature one…" Nami facepalmed.

"Found something!"

"Aw man~!" Luffy, Roll, and Chopper whined as the four soon got back on Merry.

"What did you find?" X asked.

"There's a huge gate underneath that cloud waterfall," Usopp replied.

"So there's something man-made here?" Sanji asked.

"It looks like it," Usopp replied.

"How do we even know if a human made it?" Roll pondered, causing Usopp and Chopper to gulp and hug one another, shivering.

"Nothing is out of the question when it comes to this sea," Robin noted as they began to sail through the clouds in the direction Usopp had pointed out.

"Well, we'll know when we get there!" Luffy beamed.

"Roll-chan, where are you going?" Sanji asked.

"Back on the bouncing clouds to keep us on track to the gates Usopp found," Roll replied.

"...You just want to go back up there because of how soft it is, don't you?" Nami's eye twitched.

"Well, there's that, too," Roll giggled, "Chopper, Luffy, Usopp, you guys coming?"

"I'm good," Usopp replied.

"I'll go!" Chopper cheered.

"Oh yeah!" Luffy beamed.

"Fine! But make sure to keep us on the right path!" Nami advised as the trio jumped back on the clouds, laughing and cheering as they bounced about.

"Ah! Roll-chan is so lovely bouncing along the clouds!" Sanji swooned, his eye now heart-shaped and his smoke coming out in the shape of hearts.

"...How does he do that?" X asked.

"It's called being an Ero-Cook," Zoro deadpanned.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY, MARIMO?!" Sanji snapped.

"YOU HEARD ME!" Zoro snapped before the two were at one another, blades and kicks going about at each other.

"You two wreck Merry while we're up here and you'll regret it!" Usopp barked at the two...from behind Nami and Robin.

* * *

"Okay, we've made it through!" Nami grinned as the last of the clouds before them were navigated around, revealing a large gate resembling a star, the sign reading 'HEAVEN'S GATE' above the ship entrance.

"Heaven's Gate?" Roll pondered as the trio that had been on the bouncy clouds got back on Merry, Chopper having a disgusted look on his face with his tongue hanging out.

"It wasm'b cobbom cambie…" Chopper mumbled.

"Look! The cloud's really acting like a waterfall!" Nami exclaimed in surprise, "It's flowing over that new type of cloud we just saw!"

"Oi! Is this a joke?!" Usopp demanded as he looked over the sign again, "It's like we're going to die!"

"Or, what if we're dead already?" Zoro asked.

"Oh. That would certainly count for all the weird stuff here," Sanji noted, rubbing his chin in thought.

"Huh!? We're dead?!" Chopper freaked.

"No. Everyone has a heartbeat still," Roll replied, hearing each one real quick to double check.

"Heaven, eh? Sounds like fun!" Luffy laughed, "FInally goin' there!"

"What is with that look on your face?" X questioned, a bit uneased at the weird happy face Luffy was sporting.

"We're not going to die!" Nami snapped as they entered the entrance.

 ***BONK! BONK! BONK!***

"What was that for!?" Usopp groaned, rubbing the bump on his head.

"Because you made that bad joke!" Nami replied.

"Why did you hit Chopper-chan, too?" Roll asked as she dabbed some rubbing alcohol on the bump on Chopper's head...that was somehow coming out of the back of his hat.

"Someone's emerging from over there," X noted, pointing at the nearby dock of sorts in the gate to see an elderly woman covered in wrinkles, wearing a pink dress and white angel wings on her back...taking pictures of them with a camera, "A camera?"

"Look! On her back!" Chopper gawked.

"...And there goes my preconception on angels, too…" Roll mumbled.

"Tenshi da!" Luffy gasped, "So that's a real angel? She looks like a prune!"

 ***WHAM***

"That's because she's an elder, Luffy," Roll deadpanned as she put her broom back where she had it.

"Ahoy!" X greeted before looking at Nami, "Did I say that right?"

Nami facepalmed as the lady responded, "I am the appointed lookout oh Heaven's Gate, Amazon."

"Lookout?" Chopper repeated.

"Are you here on sightseeing or fighting?"

"Sightseeing, ma'am," Nami replied before anyone could say something else.

"We wanna go see Sky Island!" Luffy beamed, "Sky Island's on the other side of this gate, right?"

"What do you mean 'fighting'?" Zoro asked.

"It doesn't matter which," Amazon stated, "Just pay the immigration fee of 1,000,000,000 Extols per person and be on your way."

"ONE BILLION?!" Nami screeched before Roll covered her mouth.

"Excuse me, but we came from a Knock Up Stream," Roll called, "Do you by chance know the exchange rate between Beli and Extol and/or perform the currency exchange here, Amazon-san?"

"The exchange rate is 10,000 Extol per 1 Beli," Amazon replied.

"So that means 1,000,000,000 Extol is just 100,000 Beli," Roll calculated, "Meaning that the total is…" she paused before asking, "Do you count reindeer as people?"

"No. Animals don't count," Amazon replied, "They cost 500,000,000 to let through, though."

"So that's 800,000 Beli for the eight of us and 50,000 Beli for Chopper," Roll noted, "In total, we'd spend 850,000 Beli. Nami-san, how much money do we have?"

"SHE'S NOT GETTING MY MONEY!" Nami roared, eyes blank and teeth shark-like.

"It's the price of a normal bill for us when we manage to find a restaurant without Marines!" Usopp argued.

"NO WAY NO HOW!" Nami barked.

"..." X put his hands on her shoulders, "City. of. Gold."

"?!" Nami blinked twice.

"Good point, X," Roll noted, "They have a city made of gold up there, don't they? It might mean that they're not even aware of how valuable it is. So if Nami-san pays now…"

"She may come out with a greater treasure than the one she spends here," Robin smiled.

Nami was conflicted. An entire city of gold...but at the cost of 850,000 Beli...city of gold...850,000 Beli...gold...Beli...gold...Beli...X held out his arms as he caught Nami, the orangette having passed out.

"She's that conflicted?!" Roll gawked.

"She's a money stealing witch," Zoro grumbled.

"Who is the only one that knows the combination to the safe where we keep our money," Usopp added.

"Gah! We can't pay the entrance fee!" Chopper freaked.

"You can go on ahead if you don't want to pay," Amazon stated.

"WE CAN?!" Usopp slapped the air in shock.

"Or, you can also not pass," Amazon continued, "I am neither a guardian nor a warrior. I only listen to your intentions."

"Seriously?" Sanji raised a brow.

"Well, that doesn't sound suspicious one bit," Roll frowned, "Amazon-san, say we _do_ go in without paying. Will this mean that you'll have to report us?"

"..." Amazon nodded.

"...Chopper, do we have any smelling salts?" Roll asked.

"I'll go get some!" Chopper nodded as he ran off into the cabin.

"YOSHA! LET'S GO!" Luffy cheered, "We're going to see Sky Island!"

"Once he gets it in his head, there's no turning back," Zoro noted.

"We don't have any money at the moment, but we're going through, Obaa-san!"

"I see! So there are nine of you, eight people and a reindeer, right?" Amazon asked.

"Ah! W-Wait! We'll pay, Amazon-san! We just need to wake up the only crewmate that knows the safe combination!" Roll yelped before a massive pair of lobster claws gently grabbed the broken wings of Merry, "GAH!"

"SOMETHING'S COMING UP?!" Chopper freaked, dropping the smelling salt at the sight.

"Inhabitant of the White Sea, **Speedy Shrimp** ," Amazon stated before Merry shot off up the waterfall.

"It's moving backwards!" X exclaimed, managing to see the giant shrimp beneath Merry.

"Oi, oi, oi! W-W-we're going so fast!" Usopp exclaimed.

"Whoa! Dekai ebi!" Chopper freaked.

"...I've seen bigger...though they were robots…" Roll noted.

"It's going all the way to the top!" Luffy cheered on Merry's head, holding onto the attachments on her head.

"LUFFY!" Roll barked, "Do you realize what you may have just caused us?!"

"Adventure!" Luffy cheered, laughing.

"He does, but he doesn't care," Zoro sighed.

"Seems like it," Robin noted, keeping Chopper close with her Akuma no Mi to not let him fall off from the speed while X was holding onto the railing while keeping the passed out Nami close.

"Dammit, Nami! This is your fault!" Roll groaned, "Because you chose to pass out...we're now criminals in this place."

* * *

 **End Chapter 3. Read and Review.**


	4. Skypeia 1: Angels of White Beach

**Chapter 4: Skypeia 1: The Angels of White Beach!**

* * *

"I swear that if Nami passing out just because she didn't want to pay so we wouldn't get in trouble up there is why the first thing we see are Skypeia's version of the police…" Roll grumbled as everyone was holding on tight to Merry as the shrimp they were on continued upwards.

"What's going to happen?" Sanji pondered as he, Zoro, and X -who was carrying the fainted Nami so she wouldn't fall off from the speeds they were going at- were holding on, or sitting on in Zoro's cade, to the railing near the prow of Merry.

"I am unsure, Sanji," X replied, "Though at the speed we are travelling along with our angle of ascent, we should be reaching 10,000 meters into the air in another minute."

"This belt of cloud is almost like a river," Zoro observed.

"I can't imagine this formed naturally," Roll noted as everyone held tighter when the shrimp took a sharp turn.

"There's nothing natural about this!" Usopp cried.

"Uhn!" Chopper nodded, a pair of sprouted arms helping him stay on Merry.

"YAHOO~!" Luffy cheered as they made a few more curves before a light started to shine up ahead, "Eh?"

"The exit!" Chopper exclaimed before spotting something on the cloud they were approaching, "There's something written there!"

"'Godland...Skypeia,'" Roll read, her vision zooming in to read the sign.

"Godland?" Robin repeated, "The Land of God, Skypeia?"

"It's not an exit," everyone looked towards Luffy, the captain holding on by the headpiece on Merry, "IT'S AN ENTRANCE!"

"Wh...What's going on…?" Nami mumbled as she started to wake up...just in time for the shrimp to shoot out of the entrance and release Merry, "EEEEEEK!"

As Merry landed on the new sea, everyone nearly fell over from the impact. Roll flinched as she heard small cracking sounds from the impact and really hoped it was just barrels and crates in the hold. She made a digital memo in her databanks to check the keel later.

"An island!" Luffy's shout of joy cut her process, "IT'S SKY ISLAND!"

Everyone looked out. Ahead of Merry was a stunning sight. Settled upon clouds were a series of homes. What appeared to be massive tangled vines seemed to act as barriers for the sides of massive cloud-like bridges as a lush jungle was nestled within it all.

"Hey...That sign said...Skypeia," Robin noted.

"Yeah! The same name that was written on the map that they found!" Nami grinned.

"So that means that the galleon that fell upon us...It really did come up here!" Roll beamed, "They got to see all this over two centuries ago!" _'Papa...Rock...I wonder how you two would think about a place like this really existing on the planet…'_

Merry soon reached the shore and Luffy inhaled deeply, "What is this place? It just reeks of adventure!" he proceeded to jump off and off Merry with a laugh, "Yahoo!"

"Oi, Luffy! Hold on!" Usopp yelped as he jumped off after Luffy, performing a dive...only to get stuck halfway in the water-like cloud.

"It's shallow enough to stand," Luffy grinned before seeing Usopp's lower half kicking the air, "Eh? Oi, Usopp, where did your head go?" Usopp's body fell over into it, his nose remaining sticking up, "Oi, daijobu?"

Usopp sat up, water dripping off him. He looked around in shock and awe before settling on Luffy.

"Is this island made of that fluffy cloud?"

"Feels like it!" Luffy beamed.

"It's the fluffy cloud!" Usopp began to smile.

"Let's go ashore!" Luffy cheered as he and Usopp began to laugh together, running off to shore.

"Oh my goodness," Roll shook her head, a smile refusing to leave her lips, "Those two are like peas in a pod, ne?"

"Me too, me too!" Chopper called as he jumped off.

"I'm going to get changed!" Nami informed as she walked to the women's corners of Merry, "Roll, you coming?"

"Mmm...Not really," Roll shrugged, "I kinda want to study the clouds here. See why they act like this and maybe figure out how to keep them like this even on the Grand Line."

"You really want a bed made of clouds, don't you?" Zoro sweatdropped as Roll jumped off.

"Wait up, guys!" Roll called.

"What should we do with the anchor?" X asked, holding it up.

"There's no bottom to this sea," Zoro noted.

"Hmm…" X looked around, "Based on the actions of our captain since I've met him…" he threw the anchor and it hit the shore, "I believe that's our best option for weighing anchor."

"Oh! Nice!" Luffy gave a thumbs up, "Hey! C'mon! This beach is fluffy!"

"Man, this scenery is really an eye opener," Zoro noted, "It's like a dream."

"Yeah, got that right," Sanji agreed, "And the way they're enjoying themselves...You just can't help yourself."

"Hm? What do you mean, Sanji?" X asked as Sanji placed his shoes by the railing before jumping off with a whoop.

"You're doing it too," Zoro sweatdropped.

. "Gomen! Gomen nassai!" Zoro looked over the railing to see Nami, wearing brown short-legged pants and a green and brown camouflage bikini too, running out of the girl's cabin with the South Bird poking at her head before flying off angrily, "Ugh...We forgot to let it go when we got to the Knock Up Stream…"

"It looks like people live here, too," Zoro noted as he looked at the houses, "We don't have to worry about the bird."

"Mr. Handyman, by any chance did your way of seeing this place show the natives?" Robin asked.

"Yes, but Luffy ordered me to not say a thing so as to not spoil anything," X replied.

"Can't you say at least something?" Nami asked.

"Let me say that there's a reason why this place is named 'Godland,'" X replied.

"Oh, it acts like sand," Roll awed as she was picking up some of the shore's clouds to put into a jar she had pulled out, "It feels like wet sand, but acts more like dry sand. Maybe because of a cloud's moisture? Would the 'dirt' here feel like wet dirt, but act like normal dirt?"

"Sky Island would be a nice place to sleep…" Chopper mumbled, laying on top of a fluffy cloud with a relaxed expression...before he ended up rolling off the cloud and down the cloud beach.

"Ah, this is your captain speaking!" Luffy called from a palm tree, hanging off of it by wrapping a stretched leg around the truck, "There's so much fun to be had here I don't know where to start! Over!"

"This is Usopp! How about we take a vacation here? Over," Usopp asked as he began to make a sandcastle with Roll.

"This is Roll! I second the suggestion. Over," Roll began to giggle near the end, "Usopp, we're really doing this, over?"

"Seems like it. Over," Usopp snickered.

"Vacation, huh? Sounds good," Luffy beamed, "Rejected!"

"Rejected?! That means no!" Usopp barked.

"Well, there is certainly some mysterious flowers blooming here," Sanji noted, looking at a patch of purple flowers as Chopper ended up hitting another clouds and went rolling the other way, "These leaves are balloons, too. Will these pop like the octopus did?"

"Mmmm~! This feels great!" Nami exclaimed as she stretched on the shore.

"Everyone seems to have adapted quickly to the higher elevations than expected," X noted.

"True," Nami noted, "Plus, the Marines won't even be anywhere near us."

"But the local law enforcement will be!" Roll called, giving Nami a stink eye.

"THAT WAS SEAWAY ROBBERY AND YOU KNOW IT!" Nami barked.

"We probably had the money, but your combination was needed to get it!" Roll argued before they heard Luffy yelp.

"Oi! What the hell is this?!" Luffy demanded as he jumped off the tree and ran over to X, carrying a green pumpkin-like fruit the size of a tire, "It's too hard! X, blow it up!"

"B...Blow it up?" X repeated as he picked it up, "Hmm...The exterior of the skin is quite durable." he knocked on the fruit a few times, "I'm not sure it would withstand my X-Buster, Luffy."

"Eh?" Luffy's jaw dropped, stretching down to his knees.

X nodded, "It may end up destroying the fruit completely."

"Aw…" Luffy pouted.

"I'll try to figure out a way to open it without destroying the fruit," X assured.

"Thanks!" Luffy cheered before he ran off, "Usopp! Tag, you're it!"

X shook his head. He looked around before spotting Nami and Chopper in a gazebo of sorts, sitting down on chairs.

"Oh! These are made of clouds, too!" Nami noted, "I guess they do have ways of making stuff from clouds!"

"But it's not the same as those fluffy clouds," Chopper noted, "This is cushiony."

"Hey, X, what's that?" Nami asked as X walked over.

"Luffy found this, so I'm trying to open it for him," X replied.

"How do you even get wet in a sea of clouds?" Zoro asked as he walked ashore.

"Well, clouds are made of condensed molecules that make up water," Roll noted as she walked over, making a small hop back to avoid crashing into Usopp and Luffy as they chased one another, "We're probably just soaking up the water inside of the clouds as we go through them."

"Eh?" Zoro raised a brow before seeing a cloth, "Ah. Perfect."

"Ah! Zoro, wait!" Roll exclaimed.

"Why?" Zoro asked as Roll bent down...and picked up the cloud-colored fox with an elongated snout.

"You nearly grabbed this little one's tail," Roll noted.

"Su~"

"...Su?" Roll repeated, looking down at the fox as it looked up at her.

"Su~" the fox repeated as a harp's melody filled the air.

"What's that?" Sanji pondered.

"Is it the guy in the cow mask?!" Usopp freaked as he ducked behind a cloud.

"Whistle! Someone blow the whistle!" Chopper hid behind Nami's leg...well...he was peeking in reverse.

"Over there!" Sanji pointed to a large grouping of clouds, the sunlight reflecting off a shapely young woman in a pink short-skirt dress with her blond hair pulled up into the shape of two antennae with tiny wings on her back, playing a heart, "Tenshi da!"

"Tenshi?" Usopp repeated.

"Sugei~" Roll awed.

"So this is why you didn't say anything," Robin noted to X.

X nodded as his optics examined the 'tenshi,' "The wings are real."

"Eh?! Real?!" Luffy gawked as the 'angel' finished playing the harp.

She looked at them and gave a smile, "Heso."

"Heso?" Nami repeated.

"It could be a natural greeting up here," Robin suggested.

"Is she looking at your bellies?" Luffy asked, looking over at the navel-exposing outfits Robin and Nami had chosen to wear. (A/N: 'Heso' here is a homonym for the Japanese word meaning 'bellybutton.' It's not the same word.)

"I see you've met Suu," the angel smiled at Roll.

"Suu?" Roll looked at the fox.

"Su~" the fox's tail wagged.

"Are you all from the Blue Sea?" the angel asked.

"Yep! We just came up from down there!" Luffy replied, "Do you live here?"

"Yes. I do," she replied as she walked over, "Welcome to Skypeia's Angel Beach." she noticed the fruit X was carrying, "Oh. Would you like to the drink that?"

"Drink?" X repeated.

She nodded, "The top of a conasshu is as tough as steel, so you can't bite through it."

"Ah, I see now. I've been focusing on the top," X noted, "So if the top is that durable, the bottom is where you can open it?"

"That's right," she replied, taking out a knife and making a hole in the bottom before putting a straw in it, "Here you go."

"Oh, thank you," X thanked as Luffy took a drink from it.

"Umei~~~~!" Luffy exclaimed.

"What? It's that good?" Usopp asked as X got another fruit from the tree and opened the bottom.

"Here," X offered.

"Thanks!" Usopp beamed as he took a drink, "UMEI~!"

"I'm Roll. It's nice to meet you and Suu," Roll greeted, handing over the fox to the angel.

"My name is Conis. This is Suu, a Cloud Fox," the angel replied, "Should you need anything, please let me be of service."

"There's a lot we'd like to ask you. This place is just full of mysteries to us," Nami noted.

"For example. Your beauty has stolen my…" Sanji began before Roll grabbed his ear and pulled him away.

"We don't want to creep her out when we just met her," the crew's nurse deadpanned.

"Oi, there's something heading our way," Zoro noted.

"Hm?" Conis looked out at sea, "Ah, that's my father."

"Conis-san, heso!" a voice called.

"Yes! Heso, Father!" Conis called back.

"Why do they keep talking about belly buttons?" Luffy whispered, earning a shrug from Usopp, as the man got closer.

"Eh? What's that he's riding?" Nami asked.

"Ah, you mean the Waver?" Conis asked.

"Waver?" Nami repeated.

"Oh! That's pretty cool!" Luffy awed, seeing a lanky man with a balding head, small black beard, and orange dress-like outfit riding on a vehicle that resembled a mixture of a boat and a kick scooter.

"Okay! I am stopping now!" Conis's father called...before colliding with a tree.

"Ah! Doctor! We need a...oh wait. I'm a doctor!" Chopper exclaimed before he and Roll ran over, a nurse's hat on Roll's head.

"Is...everyone okay…?" the man groaned as the two checked him over.

"We are, but you may not be," Roll replied in concern as Chopper switched to Heavy Point and lightly pressed the man's head in random places.

"Hmm...No concussion," Chopper noted.

"I don't feel any broken ribs," Roll added.

"Is anything sore?" Chopper asked.

"Just my nose."

Roll lightly pressed the sides of his nose, "Just light bruising from the impact."

"Hmm…" X looked over the Waver, "Luffy."

Luffy sucked on the straw in his fruit.

"We brought up something like this from the St. Briss," X noted.

Luffy sucked on his straw some more while nodding. X went to the anchor and ran along the chain until he got on Merry. A minute passed before X came back to shore, carrying a broken one, rust covering the majority of its metal and the wooden parts rotting away. In fact, the only things that seemed intact were shells in it.

"A ship that sails without wind…" Nami whispered before gasping, "It's like what Norland wrote!"

"You're okay," Roll informed as the two moved from the man.

"Are these your friends, Conis-san?" the man asked.

"Yes, we just met," Conis smiled as Suu went over to Roll and nuzzled her leg, "They came from the Blue Sea."

"I see. That must have been a dangerous journey," he noted.

"We came up on the Knock Up Stream," Luffy smiled.

"Oh, that _was_ a dangerous journey then. Ah. I'm sorry. I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Pagaya. I'm sorry."

"Oh no, it's quite alright," Usopp assured.

"Father, did you catch any fish?" Conis asked, glancing at the basket on the man's back.

"Yes, a good catch," Pagaya replied as X and Nami looked over the two Wavers.

"Hmm...If we had the right supplies, I could make a new body for the Waver we found," X noted.

"Don't bother. She might not even part with a single Berri without having to be told to let go and listing things you need to do for that single Berri to keep it happy," Roll deadpanned.

"You're not letting it go, are you?" Nami sweatdropped.

"When they come for us, I _am_ going to say 'I told you so,'" Roll replied sternly.

"Oh! Winged lobster!" Luffy exclaimed, making the three turn to see Pagaya holding a lobster...with wings on it, "Oi, X, Nami, Roll! We're getting dinner with them!"

"Wow. The people here are really that kind," Roll whispered to herself as Nami began to talk with Pagaya about the Waver before her shell fell out of her dress, "Oh."

"Ah, an Axe Dial," Conis noted.

"...Dial?" Roll repeated as she picked her shell up.

"Oh, you don't know about Dials?" Conis blinked twice.

* * *

"Wh-Wh-Why is it shaking so much?!" Luffy freaked as he was in the Waver, zipping about wildly in it, "It won't stop!-!"

"Oh my!" Conis gasped as Luffy hit something and was separated from the boat, "I hope he's not hurt!"

"What a tragedy!" Pagaya added, "I'm sorry for lending him my Waver!"

"It's okay," Roll assured, "He's just an idiot."

"Roll, clouds are made of condensed water molecules, right?" X asked.

"Yes."

"And Luffy ate something that makes him unable to move in water, correct?"

"...Zoro! We need a rescued Luffy, please!" Roll called while Zoro was already on it...with Chopper.

Minutes later, Zoro and Usopp pulled the two out of the White-White Sea. Nami took that time to try out the Waver herself.

"I am sorry for letting a beginner borrow my Waver," Pagaya apologized, "The body of a Waver is very light. Even a small wave can move its rudder. Unless you know the sea well, you cannot expect to be able to ride it."

"I just recently became good enough to use it myself," Conis admitted.

"Is it that hard?" Chopper asked.

"With practice, it takes about 10 years," Pagaya replied.

"Question."

"Hm?" the three looked at X, who pointed at the White White Sea.

"What about for navigators?" X asked as they looked out to see Nami using it perfectly.

"SHE'S RIDING IT!" Usopp exclaimed in shock, eyes popping and tongue flailing.

"This is the greatest!" Nami cheered.

"Nami-swan! You're the greatest~!" Sanji swooned, hearts replacing his eyes once more.

Oh my! That is quite extraordinary!" Pagaya awed, Luffy's eyes bulging and his jaw hitting the floor between them.

"H-How can she ride that thing?!" Luffy demanded.

"When it comes to navigating on the seas, especially the Grand Line, you probably need to be aware of everything going on around you at all times," X noted.

"Oh...Is that Vearth on you?" Conis asked, seeing some dirt on X's shoulder.

"Hm?" X looked at his shoulder, "Dirt?"

"Vearth?" Usopp repeated.

"While the clouds we're on can sustain plant life, it can't sprout it," Conis explained, "We use Vearth in order to do that, so it's something very important to us when we find it."

"Ah. In that case, we have some that I can get," X offered.

"Really? Oh, thank you!" Conis smiled.

"I would be more than happy to fix your Waver for you as thanks," Pagaya nodded, "And a nice dinner as well."

"That sounds nice. Thank you," X nodded as he went to Merry once more.

"Oi, Nami! We're going to Ossan's house!" Luffy called out, "Get off now! YOU DORK!-!"

"Someone's jealous," Roll noted in amusement while Sanji bonked Luffy's head with his bare foot.

"Don't say that to her!" Sanji scolded.

"YOU DORK!-!" Luffy repeated.

"Go on ahead! Oji-san, may I ride on it a little bit longer?"

"Yes, take care!" Pagaya warned.

On the Merry, X looked out at Nami on the Waver as he put another handful of dirt into a third jar, "...I wonder if we could find more of the 'Dials' that propel that to attach to Merry in case we need to get away as fast as possible from something."

* * *

"Thank you so much for this," Pagaya thanked once more, "Though, we don't really have many Dials at this time, but you're more than welcome to take as many as you want for the Vearth you've blessed us with."

X nodded. While Sanji and Pagaya went to the kitchen to prepare the Sky Island cuisine, everyone congregated to the living room. As they heard Sanji snap at eating something that seemed to have expired, Robin looked over at Conis.

"Considering we have the time, perhaps you could explain more about these Dials?" Robin asked.

"Of course. You see...Hmm. How should I explain?" Conis pondered as she walked over to some seashells, "Ah. Maybe a demonstration of a few would be good." she handed Luffy one, "Please try saying something into it."

"Yosh. Usopp's a dork!" Luffy stated to the seashell.

"Why, why, why did you say that?" Usopp whined behind him.

Conis giggled, "Now try pressing the apex of the shell."

"What's an apex?"

"The top of the shell, Luffy," Roll replied as she poked the apex.

 _"Usopp's a dork!"_

"AH! THE SHELL'S MAKING FUN OF USOPP!" Luffy freaked.

"I'm getting deja vu here…" Usopp mumbled in annoyance.

"Masira had one of these," Roll reminded.

"So you call seashells Dials here?" Robin asked.

"No. Dials are what we make using seashells. The one I just showed is a Tone Dial. It is able to record and replay sound."

"But where do you get the shells? There's no bottom to this place," Zoro noted.

"There are reefs in the shallows that we collect them from," Conis replied.

"But I don't see how that would move the Waver," Robin noted as Suu jumped into Roll's arms again, purring from being petted on the head by her.

"That's because the propulsion of the Waver is because of this one," Conis replied as she held up a larger Dial, "This one isn't very large, but the principle is the same as the Tone Dial." she walked up to a windchime and pushed the apex of the shell, causing a wind to come out and make the chime ring, "See?"

"Oh! Air came out of the Dial this time!" Usopp awed.

"This is a Breath Dial. It sucks in wind and blows it freely," Conis explained, "The capacity varies depending on the size. By putting this on the aft of a ship, it can move light ships like the one you all came on."

"And that's the Waver," Robin noted in interested.

"I get it now. The Breath Dial releasing stored air is what makes the Waver move," Usopp noted.

"There are other types as well. Skate Types and Board Types," Conis explained before pulling out a pair and giving them to Roll, "These are Skate Types."

 _'These are like the ones that 'berserker' had on…'_ Roll thought as she looked them over.

"But the Waver is the only one I can handle," Conis continued, "Best of all is the longevity of the Dials. As long as the shells are not broken, they can be used indefinitely."

As Conis continued to talk about different kinds of Dials, Roll was processing it all, _'These people of the sky...They've managed to develop propulsion systems, portable lights, ovens, coolers, and so much more…All from just seashells!'_ she glanced at X, who was writing down a small list of Dials from what she could see, _'That's a good idea, X. If we get as much as we can up here in those Dials, we could possibly figure out how to reverse engineer them to make more on the Grand Line…'_ she looked up at the cloudless sky, _'Papa...Rock...Blues...I wonder if you're all looking down upon us, seeing these new inventions make their way into life.'_

"Alright, it's ready!" Sanji called as the table was set, "Full-Course Sky Island Special Catch with Fruit!"

"Look great!" Luffy beamed.

"Sugei!" Chopper cheered.

"Thank you for this meal," Roll thanked.

As everyone began to eat, Sanji walked out to the open balcony. Reaching into his shirt pocket, he pulled out a cigarette and proceeded to light it. Taking in a deep breath, he partook in its taste before exhaling. As he gazed out in the distance, he noticed something. Or, rather, he _didn't_ see some _one_.

"Oi, X, that 'sit-a-light' thing...Can you find Nami-san on it?" Sanji asked.

"Hm? Nami?" X pondered before closing an eye, "...Found her. ...Huh? That's unusual."

"What's up?" Usopp asked.

"Um, what is X-san doing?" Conis asked.

"Mr. Handyman is able to see things that no one else can see. Before we even came up here, he was able to see a top view of this island all the way from the Blue Sea," Robin explained.

"Nami seems to be approaching...a giant island filled with trees the size of skyscrapers?" X pondered.

"Sugei!" Luffy gawked as Roll noticed Pagaya and Conis tense while hearing Suu's heartbeat quicken.

"Is everything okay?" Roll asked in concern.

"...Here in Skypeia, there is a place we are forbidden from ever entering, no matter the circumstances," Conis informed, "That place is actually where your friend is approaching."

"Eh? What does that mean?" Usopp asked.

"It is sacred ground."

"Sacred ground?" Robin repeated.

"We call that land...The Land where God resides, Upper Yard," Conis replied.

"God is there? In the place that no one should enter?" Luffy asked.

"...This God you are referring to...who is he?" X couldn't help but ask.

"The Almighty God, Enel," Conis answered.

"...He's a fake," Roll and X stated.

"?!" Conis and Pagaya nearly fell over.

"Are you trying to get us killed?!" Usopp gawked at the two.

"God is a woman," Roll replied, "Whoever this Enel is, his title just means he's the strongest or... _she_ is pretending to be a man."

"P...please stop," Conis begged, "He is watching us at all times."

"Eh?! You mean he's watching us right now?!"

"Please excuse them," Usopp bowed quickly before whispering at them both, "Cut it out! What if this guy can kill us from far away!?"

"Hmph. God, eh?" Zoro took a drink of water.

"You don't believe in God, Zoro?" Chopper asked.

"Dunno. I don't care where God exists or not. It's never mattered to me one bit," Zoro replied, "Well, not that I have anything against those who do believe."

"Has anyone even seen this God who lives in Upper Yard, Conis-chan?" Sanji asked.

"No. I have never seen Him. Upper Yard is a place were no one is allowed to step foot on," Conis replied.

"...Eh? 'A place where no one is allowed to step foot on?'" Luffy repeated, stars glittering.

"GAH! OI, LUFFY!" Usopp snapped as he began to shake Luffy, "What the hell are you thinking right now?! Listen to what she's saying!"

"I see...so there's a place that we're not supposed to go…" Luffy noted, laughing while eating a loaf of bread.

 _'We're doomed. He wants to go…'_ Chopper, Zoro, Sanji, and Usopp thought.

"Hmm?" Luffy blinked for a moment, "Hey wait. If this Enel guy really is God, wouldn't he forgive you, even if you go someplace you're not supposed to go? He's nice, right?"

"Well...But breaking God's rules is blasphemous, so…" Conis trailed off.

"I see...well, I guess it doesn't matter either way," Luffy shrugged as he ate some lobster.

 _'He wants to go even if God doesn't forgive him?'_ Chopper gawked.

"...If I may ask, what happens if someone goes into that forbidden Upper Yard?" Robin curiously asked.

"...Th-that's…" Conis paused as she looked down.

"That's?" Zoro repeated.

"That person cannot come back alive...everyone believes so," Pagaya explained.

"X! WHAT'S WRONG WITH NAMI-SWAN?!" Sanji demanded.

"I'm keeping track of her...Gh?! The 'Berserker!'" X got up, closing both his eyes to fully connect.

"That cow guy?" Luffy asked as Conis and Pagaya looked at X with wide eyes.

"He's near her right now. She's stopped near a part of it and seems to be looking out towards Upper Yard," X explained, "The 'Berserker' has entered Upper Yard near where she is and there seems to be something in the trees…" he grit his teeth, "I can't see anything clearly with all that foliage, but someone riding on a bird just shot down into the trees after coming out a few moments ago, almost as if he were hunting something." he tensed, "They're all going to converge on where Nami-san is!"

"?!" Sanji's eyes widened at that, "...We need to get there now!"

"W-wait!" Conis called out, "You shouldn't act so carelessly...if you all go there...there's a chance we'll incur God's Wrath."

"...Is 'God's Wrath' a lightning bolt the size of this room?" X asked, his eyes still closed.

"No...at worst...it would destroy the whole island we're on."

"Why do you ask, X-san?" Pagaya asked.

"Because a tree near Nami was just destroyed by a lightning bolt that was as big as this room in terms of width and length," X replied, "She's retreating and nothing seems to be following her." he opened his eyes, "Could it have been a warning?"

"A-Are you sure it wasn't something else?" Usopp asked.

X shook his head, "I was able to see the lightning form in mid air. There were no clouds to propagate it, no warnings of it coming…"

"...Then it really is God….Mmm…" Usopp whimpered.

"...No...it could be something else…" X guessed, _'There were no warnings of it...it just formed in the air...and it moved...this 'Enel' must be an Akuma no Mi user...Right?'_

"...We need to hurry and get Nami-swan fast!" Sanji barked.

"It's no use...because of Nami, we incurred God's Wrath…" Usopp whimpered, "I knew coming here was a bad idea. Ugh! Why did she have to pass out instead of just paying?!"

"?! Y...You all came here without paying?" Conis asked in shock.

"Nami is the only one on the ship who knows the combination to our safe," Roll deadpanned, "And she chose to pass out instead of giving someone the combination to the safe when we were down there so we could pay the fee in Berri since we have no Extol."

"We don't blame you if you consider her stingy," Zoro snorted, "She's a greedy witch."

* * *

"You're sure you can repair the Waver just after reading those books?" Pagaya questioned as X leafed through one of the books in his arms.

"Yes. I'm currently storing the information where it needs to go and when I start repairs, I can possibly make improvements such as letting it be collapsible to be carried on someone's back," X replied, "Thank you again for the Dials and these books on Waver maintenance. I apologize for how things have ended up as well."

"It's fine, it's fine," Pagaya assured.

"THAT SUSPICIOUS LOOKING SHIP! STOP RIGHT THERE!-!"

"Hm?" X and Luffy looked to see a group of men approaching them...via crawling like they were going under a something close to the ground.

"Squad...HALT~~~~~!-!-!-!" a man wearing a jacket ordered before they got up and saluted, "HESO!"

"Heso," X, Roll, Conis, and Pagaya greeted.

"Su~~su~~"

"You two are doing it, too?!" Luffy gawked.

"Why were they crawling on the ground?" Sanji pondered from where he, Usopp, and Chopper were on the Merry.

"Dunno...Maybe they're peeping perverts," Usopp replied.

"Eh~~~~So that's a pervert?" Chopper asked.

"This is why we tell Luffy to get on quickly," Usopp sighed, "And why we should've warned X and Roll about this thing. Weird things happen when we have to leave quickly and Luffy doesn't get on first."

"Oi, Luffy! Ignore them! We need to go get Nami-Swan!" Sanji shouted.

"You!-! You are those citizens of Blue Sea who illegally entered Skypeia!-!-!-!" the man declared.

"We are and we humbly apologize for it," Roll informed, "Our Navigator refused to pay Ms. Amazon the required payment."

"? Hm...This is the first time Blue Sea citizens were honest on something like this," the man noted, "I am Captain Majyeri of the White Berets. I commend you for your honesty. Considering how polite you all seem, just pay the penalty and there will be no further issues."

"How much is the penalty?"

"Ten time the original amount," Majyeri replied.

"Yikes. So instead of it being 100,000 Beri a person and 80,000 for Chopper-chan…" Roll cringed.

"1,000,000 per person and 800,000 just for Chopper," X finished, "Which means that we now owe 8,800,000 Beri or 88 _billion_ Extol."

"Aw come on!" Usopp shouted from Merry, "Nami's going to severely injure someone before she pays that!"

 _'Don't tempt fate, Usopp,'_ Roll thought in annoyance.

"It could have been worse for you. This was just a Class 11 Crime," Majyeri informed.

"Thank goodness…" Roll sighed in relief.

"This Waver looks broken. Breaking a Waver is a Class 10 crime," Majyeri informed.

"Our apologies. We found it in the wreckage of a ship that fell from here," X replied.

Majyeri looked at X, seeing the books in his hands, "You're trying to repair it?"

"Yes, sir," X replied.

Majyeri looked at it before nodding, "Good. If you had stolen this, it would have made this a Class 9 Crime."

"So noisy," Luffy grumbled before a broom was shoved into his mouth.

"Hm? What did he say?"

"Eh-heh-heh-heh-heh...No-nothing, sir. Absolutely nothing," Roll assured before whispering to Luffy, "Keep quiet or I _will_ shove this broom up where the sun doesn't shine."

"PLEASE WAIT!-!-!-!-!"

"Ah! Nami-swan~! You're safe!" Sanji cheered, waving out to the coming sight of Nami on Waver.

"LUFFY! DON'T OPPOSE THOSE MEN!" Nami shouted.

"Roll's already making sure he doesn't," Usopp deadpanned before realizing something, "Oi! Nami, do we have enough to pay 8,800,000 Berri?! Because we didn't pay down there, we have to pay ten times as much!"

"Oh...I see…" Nami mumbled to herself, smiling, "Because we didn't pay there...we have to pay a fine of 8,800,000 Berri…" she gunned the motor and shot right at Majyeri, "THAT'S TOO EXPENSIVE, DAMMIT!-!-!-!"

X moved quickly, stopping between Majyeri and the incoming enraged Nami. His hands shot out and caught the underside of the Waver before it could hit anyone. Unfortunately, X did not count on Nami having carried three metal bars that snapped together into a staff that she used to strike Majyeri as hard as she could.

"CAPTAIN!" the soldiers freaked as Majyeri collapsed.

"OI!" Zoro and Usopp snapped, slapping the air.

"Namiiii…" Roll's eye twitched madly, "Y-you...ohohohoh~you…!" _'She's WORSE than anything Wily has done right now!'_

"Ah!" Nami froze as what she just did came to her, "B-Because of the unreasonable price, I just lost it…"

"YOU'RE UNREASONABLE!" Roll snapped as Usopp and Zoro grabbed her before she could tackle Nami, the blond waving her broom like a club.

"Your Waver, Pagaya-san," X gently put the Waver down, letting Nami jump off and grab Luffy to start dragging him to Merry.

"Ah...uh, thank you. But right now, you're all in very big danger," Pagaya noted in utter worry.

"I take it that striking a captain is a higher class offense."

"Yes. It's, well, because of your Navigator attacking Captain Majyeri, you are all classified as Class 5 Criminal," Conis replied, "The punishment being the 'Drifting Cloud.'"

"Drifting Cloud? That sounds like fun!" Luffy tilted his head as Roll finally calmed down enough for the others to let her go.

"No, no, no. It's terrible. You'll be sent off on a tiny cloud until you die," Conis explained.

"I see...No wonder ships would fall from empty sky," Robin realized.

"What?" Usopp looked at her.

"The St. Briss...It must have been subjected to the same punishment over 200 years ago," Robin explained.

"...what?" Usopp repeated, starting to lose color to his face.

"..." Roll slowly pulled out her Axe Dial before a hand sprouted from her shoulder and had her put it away.

"No…" Robin scolded.

"But I wanna…" Roll whined.

"I know," Robin nodded sympathetically as the sprouted arm lightly patted Roll's head in an almost motherly manner before vanishing.

"Are we required to follow you to where you are housed for due process?" X asked as he helped Majyeri up.

"Ugh...I don't get why you're helping me, but it doesn't matter," Majyeri growled, "Because of that woman's actions, both assaulting a captain of the White Berets and hindering our duty, you are all now Class 5 Criminals. With the power vested in me by God, I sentence you all to Drifting Cloud! GET THEM!"

The soldiers pulled out bows and arrows, aimed at the Straw Hats. Conis opened her mouth before a series of plasma shots struck the bows, breaking them and making the soldiers drop their arrows. X's Buster changed back into his hand as he let got of the arm as the White White Sea dwellers looked at him in surprise.

"...Ah. Sorry," X apologized.

"Was that...an Akuma no Mi?" Majyeri pondered.

"X, duck!" Luffy shouted, "Gomu Gomu no…" X ducked and the soldiers were struck by Luffy's extended leg, sending them crashing into the trees, "MUCHI!"

"Now that I think about it, Nami…" Zoro noted as two soldiers that managed to avoid the attack were about to charge with drawn blades, "How much money do we have?"

"500,000 Berri," Nami replied.

"You mean we couldn't even pay?!" Roll gawked as Zoro and Sanji beat up the two soldiers with a single blow each.

"Yeah. We're almost out!" Nami replied.

"Why are we so poor?! I'm the captain, so I say that you manage the money better!" Luffy complained.

"THE MAJORITY OF THE MONEY GOES INTO FEEDING YOU!" Nami, Sanji, and Usopp barked.

"They defeated the White Berets so quickly…" Pagaya whispered in surprise.

"Citizens of the Blue Sea should have issues with fighting up here," Conis noted.

"We're not your normal group," Roll sweatdropped, "So, um...Since they just beat up the White Berets...what does that make us?"

"Class 2 Criminals," Conis replied, biting her thumb in worry, "It means that you're to be judged by God's Shinkan themselves."

"And because of that, we cannot assist you in anything," Pagaya added...while he and Conis were now half a football field's length from them.

"WHY ARE YOU TWO SO FAR AWAY?!" Nami barked.

"Oh well. It doesn't matter," Luffy snickered, "We're already used to being chased by authorities."

 _'I'm still adapting to that,'_ Roll sweatdropped.

"Also, why did you come back?" Luffy pouted at Nami.

"Huh?" Nami pondered.

"We were just about to go to 'The place no one should enter,'" Luffy pouted, "For a big adventure...wait...I mean, go save you."

"You…" Nami's eye twitched, "Are a really bad liar." she proceeded to start poking Luffy's head, "Big Adventure?! I told you! There are some really scary guys on that island! You're just saying that because you didn't see them for yourself!"

"X saw it from a bird's view," Usopp noted.

"SHUT UP!" Nami barked, making the long nose yelp and hide behind Chopper...while still in Brain Point, before she turned back to Luffy, continuing her vicious poking, "Even though I don't know if they're really god or gods or whatever, their super and illogically immense power is the real deal! An island like that...I will never go there a second time!-!"

"Fine! We'll go by ourselves. You stay here," Luffy grumbled, rubbing where he had been poked.

"NO! Pursuers are coming! We are getting on the Merry and we. are. leaving. this country!" Nami barked.

"EH~~~!? LEAVE?! DON'T TALK CRAP!" Luffy argued, his eyes bulging out, "JUST THINK! WHICH IS MORE IMPORTANT, ADVENTURE OR YOUR LIFE?!"

"My life! Followed by money," Nami replied instantly.

 _'That explains_ so much _,'_ Roll's eye twitched.

"Ah. Then followed by me~?" Sanji asked, earning a fist to the face by Nami.

"Shut up!" Nami barked.

"Nami-san, there's a problem with that," X informed.

"WHAT?!"

"Well, we only focused on getting up here. Did we ever plan on how to get back down?" X asked.

"..."

"...Nami-san?" X asked, moving closer.

 ***CLONG!***

"DAMN IT!" Nami screamed as X rubbed his head while Nami rubbed her sore fist, "Ugh...Luffy, this is your fault!"

"How's it my fault?!"

"You just had to get interested in Sky Island, didn't you?! We're gonna die up here and it's your..." Nami began in her anger.

"Um...I know of a way to get you back to the Blue Sea," Conis spoke up.

"PLEASE TELL US!" Nami demanded as she was instantly before her.

"Well, to get back to the Blue Sea, you must go back down to the White Sea and then head to the far east to a place called Cloud End," Conis explained.

"Cloud End?" Nami repeated.

"Yes. Although...I don't think you should try to run. Sky Ocean is very big…"

"What? What do you mean?" Usopp asked.

"Are you saying we can't escape from those guys?" Chopper gulped.

"Sadly no...and even if you could, God's Wrath will surely end you before you can even get there."

"...God's….Wrath?" Chopper and Usopp gulped, "How...bad is it?"

"...Enough to destroy the entire island we're on."

"..." Usopp collapsed into fetal position, "Sky Island scary...Sky Island scary...Sky Island scary…"

"Although...I don't think you should try to run. Sky Ocean is very big…" Conis noted in concern.

"What? What do you mean? Are you saying that we _can't_ escape from those guys?" Usopp asked.

"If that's so, then it's the same wherever we go. And if we just stay here, we'll just cause you more troubles," Nami waved her off, "Now that's there no place to hide, let's just set sail! Conis! Mister! Thanks for everything."

"Ah!-! Ossan, can I take all the food from earlier?" Luffy asked.

"Oh, of course," Pagaya replied.

"All right! Sanji, get the Pirate Bento boxes!" Luffy ordered.

"You don't miss a thing, do you?" Sanji shook his head.

"Ah. Usopp, some of our tools were lost in the Knock Up Stream," X noted.

"Seriously!? Mister, I have a request, too! You're an engineer, right? Can we have some tools and materials to fix up our ship?"

"Oh, no problem. Just come to my place again," Pagaya replied.

"Where are you guys going?!" Nami demanded, noticing X, Usopp, Sanji, and Luffy going with Pagaya to his house.

"I'm gonna get some food. You guys go ahead and prepare for our adventure!" Luffy ordered.

"ARGH!-!-!" Nami facepalmed, "That idiot…! He still wants to go!? It's terrifying there!"

"How should we know?" Zoro raised a brow.

"X told us what he saw with his satellite linkup," Roll reminded, "I'm kinda worried. With lightning that big, it'd have far more voltage and amps than normal lightning."

"I don't care either way, so don't yell at me," Zoro snorted as he walked back to Merry.

"Chopper, Roll, you're both on my side...Right?" Nami asked.

"From the last two weeks I've spent on this crew? We might as well get ready for whatever is going to happen," Roll replied.

"Even the new members know that once Luffy sets his mind on something, he'll do it even if we protest," Zoro spoke.

* * *

"You're the ship's carpenters?" Pagaya asked as Usopp and X were loading a knapsack with the tools they needed.

"No, that's not it. X is the Handyman while I'm the...The Master Gunner," Usopp explained, a beam of pride in his voice when he addressed his role, "So far, our crew doesn't have a carpenter or a shipwright or anything like that. But with the almighty resourcefulness I have with X's quick thinking to fix things, everyone relies on us. It's a lot of pressure! Without us, this ship would sink!"

"Especially if the keel is damaged," X added.

"...Keel?" Usopp repeated, "You and Roll have mentioned that before, but what is it?"

"The keel is the most important part of the ship, what makes it unique to itself since no two keels are ever the same," X explained, "Even if you used all the original materials from the original ship on a new keel, it wouldn't be the same ship. If the keel breaks, then that's it. The ship can't go on and will more than likely break out on the sea from even the gentlest of waves."

"?!" Ussop's eyes widened at that.

"It's happened before with some Wavers," Pagaya scratched his beard in thought, "People who own Wavers sometimes have an incident where the keel on the Waver is damaged and the Waver breaks apart the next time they're on the water. You could consider the kell as the very heart of any Blue Sea, White Sea, or White-White Sea vessel."

"I...I see…" Usopp gulped, "W-Well, good thing Merry isn't in danger!"

"Red should be here...These jade green beans should be here...Now it looks even more delicious," Sanji noted as he worked on a bento, "This one is more Nami-swan, Robin-chwan, and Roll-chan."

"Oh my. It doesn't look like food anymore!" Conis awed, looking at the food now arranged as a tree of sorts, "I've never seen such a beautiful bento."

"Really?! This is for you, Conis-chan!" Sanji swooned.

"Eh!? For me?"

"Of course. The title of this one is 'Love is a Dilemma, the lunch of a Descending Angel,'" Sanji informed.

 _'How does he get his cigarette smoke in that shape?'_ X pondered, looking at the puffs of heart-shaped smoke coming from the cigarette.

"Well, after you put it in your stomach, it all becomes the same thing," Luffy observed.

"DON'T SAY STUPID THINGS THAT DON'T BENEFIT ANYONE! Remember this, the 'art of eating' starts with visual enjoyment!" Sanji barked.

"As usual," Usopp shook his head.

=X!=

"Roll?" X answered.

=Th-The ship! Look outside!= Roll yelped.

=HELP!=

=How is Merry going backwards?=

=SHUT UP, ZORO!=

"?" X blinked twice before heading to the balcony, "What?"

"What's wrong?" Sanji asked as he pulled out a hand-telescope and looked through it, "AH! NAMI-SWAN!-!-! Wha…" he dropped it and grabbed a handkerchief and bit down on it, tears going down his cheeks, "WHY DID YOU PUT ON THAT SHIRT?!-!?-!?-?!"

"WHERE WERE YOU LOOKING TO BE ASKING SUCH A THING?!" Usopp snapped, slapping the back of Sanji's head.

"Ah! The ship's leaving us!" Luffy freaked, "Where are you guys going?!" he then noticed Merry was going in reverse, "SUGEI! Merry can sail backwards!"

"It's not that," X frowned, "I see something. A giant shrimp like the one that brought us up here maybe?"

"That's the White-White Sea Special Super Express Speed Shrimp," Pagaya noted.

=WHERE'S IT TAKING US?!=

=EVERYONE ABANDON SHIP! IT'S NOT TOO LATE!=

=B-But what about Merry?! If they take Merry, then…=

=DON'T WORRY! I'LL STAY HERE!=

=Zoro, quit being hardheaded!=

=Wait. It appears they prepared to stop our escape as well= Robin noted as the serpent-like sky fish emerged from the waters, chasing after the shrimp and Merry.

"Even if they were to jump off Merry, they'd end up eaten," X frowned, hearing the ones on the ship through Roll's comm unit and his comm unit.

"Why is she wearing a T-shirt?" Sanji repeated.

"GET OVER IT!" Usopp slapped Sanji's shoulder with the back of his hand before turning to Luffy, "Oi, Luffy! This is bad! What do we do?!"

"Where are they going?" Luffy pondered.

"FOCUS!" Usopp snapped, slapping the back of Luffy's head.

"Roll, where are you heading?" X asked.

=X?! This is Nami! We're being taken to that island!= Nami yelped on the line.

"They're being taken to Upper Yard," X informed, "Roll and I will keep our communication open so we can keep track of each other."

=Well please hurry! I got a bad feeling on where we're being taken!=

"Roger," X nodded before turning to Pagaya and Conis, "Is there anywhere that shrimp would take them specifically at Upper Yard?"

"Hmm...most likely the altar," Pagaya replied, "There they'll be judged by God Enel himself."

"The altar?" Usopp repeated.

"Yes. In the northeast portion of Upper Yard is the Sacrificial Altar," Pagaya replied.

"Sacrifices?!" Sanji snapped out of it, "Nami-swan, Robin-chwan, Roll-chan, and the others will end up as sacrifices?! Sacrifices for that God!-!?" for a second, X thought he saw Sanji burst into flames, "THAT ASSHOLE! DON'T MESS WITH ME~~~~!"

"Please wait!-! It's not what you think!" Pagaya waved his hands frantically to get their attention, "For sacrifices...I only heard about it. In Heaven's Judgement, there are two types of punishments for criminals. One is 'Sacrifice' and the other is 'Trial.' That's what I heard. In other words, they're now in God's hands. They're called sacrifices, but they're actually hostages."

"Hostages?!"

"Which means that the ones being judged...are you four right here," Pagaya went on.

"Huh?! What does that mean?!" Luffy asked.

"If I had a map…"

"Oh! We have one," Usopp noted as he pulled out the map they got from the St. Briss.

"Hmm...it looks very old, but the shape of the island seems correct," Pagaya noted as he looked at the map, "This is where we currently are…" he tapped at one point of the map before moving his finger across the map to nearly the other side of it, "And this is where the altar is. There is only one way to get there, and it's via the Milky Road from this island. You must use a Dial Boat and pass through the forest, where the Shinkan reside."

"Ah, Mister, what if we go _around_ the island instead of through it?" Usopp asked.

"I'm afraid that's impossible," Pagaya shook his head, "You can't get to the altar on foot. The big difference between this map and the current Upper Yard is the Milky Roads that are stretched all around the island."

"Those cloud rivers I've been seeing all over here?" X pondered.

"Correct," Pagaya nodded, "I hear that there are several hundred Milky Roads, large and small in size, over there along with a main one."

"I see...So if we try to land directly, we would get blocked by those Milky Roads," Sanji noted.

"Yes. Also, in those rivers, there are man-eating fish."

"Gh?! M-man-eating fish?!" Usopp freaked.

"They really covered all their bases…" Sanji noted.

"Indeed. If we want to rescue our friends and get the ship back, we have to come in from the front," X surmised as he held his chin in thought.

"But we just need to deal with the Shinkan that Nami told us about and kick their asses, right?" Luffy asked with an excited grin.

"It can't be that easy…" Usopp gulped.

"Don't be careless!-! Those four Shinkan are stronger than you think! Most importantly, God's Avatar himself is in upper yard."

"...Avatar?" X repeated.

"Yes. No one has seen God Enel's true face, but merely his Avatar," Pagaya nodded, "But he is powerful because he channels God Enel himself."

"...What does this 'Avatar' look like?"

"We can't say what he looks like. It is a Class 1 Criminal act to tell visitors of what the Avatar looks like without his consent," Pagaya replied.

"Oh, so it's a spoiler," Luffy noted, "Okay! No one say anything about what he looks like! Captain's orders!"

"Luffy!" Usopp gawked.

"It's not a fun adventure if we get spoilers," Luffy replied, "I'd rather have a fun adventure than a boring one!"

"Just one question," Sanji spoke up, "How do we get there?"

"I have a Boat you can use," Conis offered.

"Really?!" Luffy beamed, "Okay!"

* * *

"WOOOOOOW~~~~~!-!-! IT'S SO NICE HERE!" Luffy exclaimed as they walked along a large road filled with numerous shops, "Look! That shop's floating in the air!"

"Lovely Street is the only big street on Angel Island. It was designed to fully utilize the characteristics of Island Clouds," Conis explained.

"Hey…" Usopp spoke up as he noticed the people seemed off to him, "Are...Are they all avoiding us?"

"Yeah. They probably know that we're criminals," Sanji frowned.

"Shishishishi! It's nice with nobody blocking the street!" Luffy laughed.

"Are you fine, Sanji?" X asked.

"All the lovely angels are avoiding us," Sanji muttered.

"You're depressed about that?" X blinked twice in confusion.

"Oi, Luffy! It's not time to do souvenir shopping! We're trying to find the others and rescue them!" Usopp argued as he dragged Luffy away from a shop as best he could.

"Huh? Save them? But they've got Zoro with them," Luffy tilted his head.

"WE CAN'T RELY ON THAT GUY!" Sanji snapped.

"Hopefully Merry's okay. It's been so much trouble recently…" Usopp muttered.

"The port is this way," Conis informed.

"EH?! We're leaving this city?!" Luffy asked incredulously.

"What do you mean?! This was never our destination," Usopp deadpanned.

 _'It's strange...These people…'_ X thought, _'They're not watching us...they're watching Conis.'_ he then noticed Conis gripping her hand a bit, _'And she's shaking...Are they afraid of this God Enel that much?'_

Eventually, they came upon a port filled with different types of ships.

"Oh~! So many boats!" Luffy awed as they looked around.

"There are all kinds of boats anchored here. From hotel ships you can stay the night, to speed-oriented boats loaded with giant dials," Conix explained, "There are many other kinds that…"

"Woah! Check out this one!" Luffy awed as he looked at a hotel ship with a bull figurehead, "So cool...Let's take it!"

"You want to take the risk of us getting a higher class?!" Usopp demanded.

"Hey, look! It has one of those things the Waver has on the back of it, too!" Luffy agreed.

"ARE YOU LISTENING?!" Usopp barked.

"Um...Our ship is over here," Conis informed.

"Oh? What does i-" Luffy began before looking at the ship Conis was standing next to, "...a….a crow?"

The ship in question was smaller than most of the other boats there. In fact, if one removed the parasol from the top, the steering wheel at the base of the 'crow's neck,' the cushions inside of it, and two Dials on the back of it, it would resemble more of a gondola than a boat. The head of the 'crow' seemed more childish than anything as well.

"It's called Karasu-maru," Conis informed with a smile.

"Little Crow?" X translated before nodding, "It fits."

"Crow...It's not even a sea bird…" Sanji muttered with a sweatdrop.

"I'm not that well on a Waver, so I tend to use Karasu-maru more often. It's a little bit slow, but it also has two Wind Dials. Please use it at will!" Conis offered.

"...No. I'm not going," Luffy stated.

"...You...You dislike it? I'm sorry...but well, the other boats are for rent. I don't have money to…" Conis began before Sanji's heel met Luffy's noggin.

"You damn idiot! Apologize!" Sanji snapped as he repeatedly kicked Luffy's face, "Apologize to Conis-chan from the bottom of your heart, you scumbag!"

"OH!-! I...so...r...ry…!-!-!-!" Luffy mumbled out from behind Sanji's foot digging into his face.

"So how will we reach the altar from here?" X asked Conis.

"Your exit is Gate #2," Conis answered as she pointed out, "It will lead you to the giant Milky Road, which connects to Upper Yard. Y-you simply need to take that."

"...Oi, Conis," Luffy spoke, getting her attention, "Why have you been shaking ever since we left your house?"

"?!" Conis tensed at that, "...r-really? I...haven't noticed."

"...You're afraid, aren't you?" X asked, making her tense up further, along with the townsfolk as they looked on.

"I...Is...Is it that obvious?" Conis admitted.

"Like Luffy said, you've been shaking since we left your home. Plus you're pale as a ghost right now," X explained, "I noticed you clenching your hand when we were walking through town along with the looks the people were giving you."

"...She wouldn't…" one of the townsfolk whispered.

"She better not say something stupid…" another frowned quietly.

"I should also say that my audio receptors can hear whispers of concern from some of the people around us," X went on, "Almost as if they're worried for you."

"...I…"

"You idiot! Don't say anything foolish!"

"...It's strange, right? Carefully explaining the details of the trial...and then taking you there…" Conis spoke, "It's like I was tricking you to come here."

"X, what are you doing?" Sanji frowned.

"It's a law you have to follow. Citizens up here are required to escort criminals that are forced to endure Heaven's Judgement to Upper Yard by any means," X stated.

"EH!? X, are you serious?!" Usopp demanded.

"...Now that you mention it, X, looking at them...they all know something," Sanji noted.

"...I...please...run…" Conis begged them as she fell to her knees, tears welling up in her eyes, "I'm sorry...I'm so sorry…"

"Stop!" one of the townsfolk freaked.

"What're you saying?!" another shouted.

"The person who called the Super-Express Lobster...it…" Conis sobbed, her voice straining a bit, "It was me…"

"The giant shrimp that kidnapped the others...was called by you?!" Usopp gasped.

"...Yes…" Conis nodded slowly, "While you weren't on board, I lied to them about a current that leads to Cloud End, and had them raise the anchor. That was the signal for the Super-Express Lobster…"

"Foolish girl! Do you want to die?!" another of the townsfolk shouted.

"Once we know someone's a criminal, we'll be killed if we don't lead them to the place of judgement…" Conis went on, the tears not stopping once.

"Stop it! Do you realize what you're saying?!" one of the townsfolk watching shouted, "You're blaspheming against God!"

"Someone stop her!" another exclaimed.

"This is our citizen's duty…" Conis whispered, her hand over her mouth as she looked away from the group, "This...is God Enel's will…"

"SHUT UP NOW!-!-! DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING?!"

"THAT'S BLASPHEMY!"

"SOMEONE STOP THAT GIRL!"

"How can they do that…!-!" Usopp whispered in shock.

"It's because they're terrified," X replied.

"Terrfied?"

"Terrified of this Enel…" X replied, "So much so...they can't do anything in fear of him passing judgement on them." he then looked down at Conis, "Isn't that right…?"

"I'M SORRY!-!-!-!" Conis cried, "It's really strange...right?! Everything is…"

"You're really stupid," Luffy stated bluntly, "You did it because you had no other choice, right? So why…"

"WHY DID YOU TELL US?!" Usopp, Luffy, and Sanji demanded loudly.

"Eh…?" Conis looked at them with wide eyes.

"Because you told us the truth, you'll be targeted now," X frowned, keeping an eye closed.

"It's all over…" someone in the crowd whispered.

"We're too late…" another added.

"St-stay away from that girl!" one more shouted as the crowd began to run away.

"What's going on?" Usopp asked.

"?!" X's opened eye widened before grabbing Conis.

"Wh…" Conis began before X moved back.

 ***KRA-KOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!-!-!***

"GAH! Wh-WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!" Usopp shouted as the smoke from the lightning impact started to dissipate.

"WHAT?!" Luffy screamed.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?! IT WAS A GIANT LIGHTNING BOLT?!" Sanji screamed.

"WHAT?!" Luffy screamed.

"WHAT?!"

"WHAT?!"

"I CAN'T HEAR YOU, DAMMIT! THE THUNDER WAS TOO LOUD!" all three shouted.

"Y...You…" Conis gasped as the last of the smoke settled, revealing X standing by a massive hole the size of a house with Conis in his arms.

"I was keeping an eye above us for signs of the lightning," X informed, "I was able to dodge it in time. Are you alright, Conis?"

"I...I…" Conis gulped.

"Strong enough to fight against the Berserker and fast enough to avoid 'Heaven's Judgement,'" a voice noted, causing everyone to look to see Gan Fall on Pierre, "Quite the interesting Blue Sea Dweller."

"Ah! It's the Ossan on the weird Pegasus!" Usopp gawked.

"Weird?" Gan Fall repeated before shaking his head, "No...I would be the Knight of the Sky! I will temporarily take care of this girl. I will not allow her to be attacked." Pierre landed before them, "Now that you know the truth about this country...As well as 'God's' power...You should decide what you will do by yourself."

"...This land is none of our business. But…" Luffy paused as he adjusted his hat, "Our friends are on God's island."

"Really…" Gan Fall noted, "Then I wish you good luck."

"LET'S GO!" Luffy declared.

"I'll drive," Sanji informed, "I'll get us there no matter what!"

"You think she'll be okay?" Usopp asked as the four got into Karasu-maru.

"I'll keep an eye on them," X replied, closing his left eye.

"Ahh...then I'll wish you guys the best of luck," Ussop stated, "I'll even.."

"You're coming too, Usopp…" Sanji deadpanned, causing Usopp to slump.

Luffy stomped his foot on the front of Karasu-maru, "OKAY! LET'S GO!-! TO UPPER YARD!-!-!"

* * *

 **GT: I hope everyone reads and reviews. I love having reviews since they help me want to work more on stories. Also, as you voted, I'll try to translate a bit of what's been written here.**

 **Ossan: Roughly means 'Old man.'**

 **-San/-Chan/-Kun: A term used at the end of names with '-San' used for 'Mr/Mrs/Ms'. '-Kun' is normally used for boys you're friendly with while '-chan' is meant for little kids and young women.**

 **Shinkan: God's Officers. Also known as 'Priests' normally, 'Vassals' in 4Kids' dub (in the video games since we are lucky they never translated it to Skypeia and ended at the end of Alabasta), 'Kami's Vassals' in the VIZ manga, and Sky Knights in the Funimation edited Dub.**

 **Baka: Idiot/Fool/Stupid**

 **Teme: Roughly means 'Bastard'**

 **Ikuze: Roughly means 'Let's go.'**

 **Karasu: Translates to 'Crow.'**


	5. Skypeia 2: Upper Yard

**GammaTron: Hi! Here's an update for the New Year!**

* * *

"X, how's Conis-chan?" Sanji asked as Karasu-maru drove along the Milky Road.

"It seems they're heading for a lone island a few miles away from here," X explained, "A small house, a palm tree, a nice garden even. Perhaps it is where the Sky Knight resides or a safe house?"

"This thing is so slow…" Luffy whined.

"This boat is a few times heavier than a Waver, so it can't be helped," Sanji frowned, "Don't be so picky."

"Mmm…" Luffy frowned.

"Hm? Hey, I think I see something up ahead," Usopp noted, squinting his eyes a bit before they widened, "Gh?! What's that humongous forest?!"

"Cool~~~~~! Oi, Usopp, is that giant forest anywhere on the map?" Luffy asked.

"Not really. There's a forest on the map, but it's not really marked," Usopp replied.

"Usopp, factor in that the map is nearly 200 years old. For all we know, the forest has been growing ever since it came up here," X noted, "The growth is amazing, though. Could it be due to being all that closer to the sun?"

"I wanna climb one…" Luffy awed as they soon came upon the entrance to the forest...sporting two posts that had crossed spears before shields with skulls impaled on the tops, "Oh! It's the entrance!"

"This will probably be our last chance to turn back. Are you ready, Usopp?" Sanji asked.

"Oh? Then if we could, I'd li…"

"LET'S GO!" Luffy cheered.

"ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO ME?!" Usopp barked before noticing the posts, ominous statues, and destroyed ships scattered about, "..."

 ***GYAH! GYAH!***

"Uwaa…" Usopp whimpered, "There's something out there!"

"That's because it's a forest," Sanji deadpanned.

"No! Just look around us! Those are wrecked ships, right?!"

"Because this is a forest," Luffy defended.

"WHAT'S THAT GOT TO DO WITH IT!?"

"We should be careful," X noted as he looked at the wrecked ships, "I think we're heading for a series of traps."

"What kinds?" Luffy asked.

"Well, judging from how those ships are split in two, I'd say swinging blades," X replied before a massive curved blade swung by them, barely missing them, "..."

"...PADDLE!" Usopp screamed as he pulled out four paddles.

The other three grabbed one each and began to paddle as fast as they could. X tried to make sure he was compensating for each one, making adjustments to how much force he put into each paddle, their frequency, and his RPMs. If it had been just the trio minus X, it may have been going around in a circle or veering all about.

"AH! THERE ARE ALL KINDS OF SCYTHE MONSTERS HERE!" Luffy screamed, "PADDLE AS FAST AS YOU CAN!-!-!"

"WHAT DO YOU THINK WE'RE DOING?!" Usopp freaked before he spotted something flying towards them, "AHH! UDO INCOMING!"

"UDO?" X blinked.

"UNIDENTIFIED DANGEROUS OBJECT!"

Sanji shot up and slammed a foot into the object heading their way. It was massive, serpentine, and had more than one row of fangs.

"GYAAAAH! WHAT IS THAT?!" Usopp freaked.

"Is it some sort of snake?!" Luffy gawked.

"It's a Lamprey Eel," X noted, "Perhaps a Sky Lamprey Eel?"

"At such a huge size, it'll do more than just suck our blood," Sanji noted, "While we're on this Milky Road, we can't stop to catch our breath or let our guard down. All we can do is keep moving forward!"

"WOW! This time there's a giant standing in our way!" Luffy exclaimed as he pointed ahead.

"Um, Luffy? That's a statue that seems to have four openings in the bottom for the Milky Road," X noted.

"Does that mean each goes to a different place?" Usopp asked.

"Most likely…" X replied as he looked at the writing on top of each 'head', "Swamp Ordeal...Iron Ordeal...Strong Ordeal...Ball Ordeal...four Ordeals each…"

"Sugei! Does it matter which one we go through?" Luffy asked excitedly.

"SO NOW GOD WANTS TO PLAY A GAME WITH US!?" Usopp snapped.

=Um...Guys?=

"Go ahead, Nami-san," X responded.

"NAMI-SWAN~! ARE YOU OKAY?"

"Please don't shout that loud," X noted.

=X...How do we put this on speaker?= Nami asked.

"Oh," X tapped thrice on his helmet and the part covering his left ear flipped out and rotated 180 degrees, revealing a speaker, "You're good, Nami."

=THAT WAS LOUD, DAMMIT!=

 _'And that wasn't?'_ X thought as he looked at the trio rubbing their ears.

=Listen. We've just arrived at some sort of stone altar and, well, the shrimp threw us up here and I'm worried it may have damaged Merry some more= Roll noted.

"Ah! Merry!" Usopp freaked.

=I'm going to be checking on things once we're done talking= Roll assured =But right n-ZORO?!=

"What happened?" Usopp asked.

=He just jumped into the water to swim to shore!= Chopper replied =GYAAAA~! SKY SHARK!=

"Sky shark?" X blinked.

=Very big, very nasty, and…= Roll began.

=IT JUST ATE ZORO!= Chopper screamed before the sounds of something erupting from the water was heard.

=GET OUTTA MY WAY!=

=Uh...I...I think Zoro knows the Shoryuken= Roll's gawk was heard =Because he just used it to kill a Sky Shark=

"Huh...interesting…" X noted.

=Ahem. Moving on away from obscure things I don't know about...Where are you at right now?= Nami asked.

"We're before four entry ways leading to 'Ordeals'," X explained before a frown grew on his face, "And we've learned a bit of the truth behind this 'God' Enel. If any 'criminals' are spotted by someone, they are killed on the spot unless they bring said criminals to the altar in Upper Yard. It's their rule...or rather..it's this 'Enel's' will, meaning they have no choice in the matter to bring someone not of Skypeia in."

=That's horrible!= Roll gasped.

"Indeed...This Enel sounds more like a tyrant than a God if you ask me," X stated, "Forcing his rules on everyone, whether they like it or not...or in this case, whether they like it, or get 'judged' by his 'judgement' via eradication by thunder."

"Yeah! If X hadn't grabbed Conis out of the way, she'd be fried Conis!" Luffy added.

=...And this Enel...wants to do the same to us?= Nami asked slowly.

"That is correct."

"Don't worry, Nami-swan~! Roll-chan~! Robin-chwan~! I will protect you all!" Sanji declared.

=Just get over here…= Roll sighed before hanging up.

"You heard her. Let's get going," Luffy ordered.

"But which one?" Usopp pondered before whispering, "Hey, X? Any chance you…"

"I think our safest bet is the Ordeal of Balls," X quietly replied, an eye closed, "The others are a swamp, a field of skulls on spikes, and the third one is too empty to be safe."

"...Yosh! Let's go through the ball cave!" Luffy declared, "It sounds fun, yeah!?"

"THIS IS AN ORDEAL! HOW CAN IT BE FUN!?" Sanji snapped.

"Actually, that one sounds the least dangerous," Usopp noted, "I agree with Luffy!"

"X?" Sanji asked.

"The Ordeal of Balls sounds the least dangerous of the four," X replied.

"...Fine. Ordeal of Balls it is…" Sanji shrugged.

"It's decided then!" Luffy grinned, "But we have to be careful. This is an island 10,000 meters in the air! Anything is possible! LET'S GO!-!-!"

With that, X began to drive Karasu-maru into the Trail of Balls. Usopp kept his eyes shut, shivering in the dark tunnel that they entered. X blinked before his eyes lit up to brighten the dark.

"...I just realized something," Luffy spoke up, "What if there's really nothing at the end of this tunnel?"

"...What're you talking about, Luffy?" Usopp asked.

"I mean what if we chose the wrong hole?" Luffy guessed, "Like what if one of them was wrong and the other four are wrong."

"Oi oi! Don't go talking stuff like that!" Usopp snapped.

"Hmm...if we did choose the wrong one…" Luffy paused for a moment to think, "..Maybe we'll fall off the sky island?"

"Eh?! Don't be stupid!" Usopp snapped, "It's 10,000 meters to the Blue Sea, you know! You could reflect on your life multiple times on your way down! Even falling has its limits!"

"Oi. Stop talking. You're just as bad as him," Sanji frowned as X turned off his lights as they reached the exit.

"...Does anyone else hear that?" X asked.

"The sound of two idiots?" Sanji deadpanned.

"No. It sounds like….a waterfall of sorts," X explained before blinking twice, "Oh. That explains it."

"What?" Sanji asked.

"We're going over it right now," X replied as Karasu-maru began to tip downwards.

"...Over it?" Usopp gulped as he, Luffy, and Sanji slowly looked ahead...only to freak that they were incredibly high up.

"EEH?!-!?" Sanji, Luffy, and Usopp screamed, their eyeballs popping out in shock.

"NO~~~~! IT'S ALL USOPP'S FAULT~~~!" Luffy screamed.

"WHAAAAAAAAAT?!" Usopp snapped in their fall.

* * *

"Sky Island scary….Sky Island scary…." Usopp whimpered, his eyes completely blank as he shook like a leaf.

Luffy just laughed hard as Sanji continuously kicked the side of his head, "I thought we were gonna die! Ahahahahahaha!"

"You just had to say all that misleading stuff!" Sanji snapped, his teeth shark-like as he kicked Luffy's head harder to no results.

X emerged from the milky road and climbed back onto the ship, "Karasu-maru's keel is undamaged and the Dials seem to be uncracked on the underside."

"...Good," Sanji sighed a bit as he lit another cigarette, "Last thing we need is our boat b-"

"Hmm?" Luffy blinked as he took notice of something in the area they were in, "...What's with the giant balls?"

"Balls?" the other three blinked as they soon took notice, seeing a series of semi-large white balls floating around them.

"They appear to be made from Island Cloud," X noted as he observed one of the balls, "Could they be part of the Ordeal?"

"...If that's the case, be careful," Sanji advised, the four unaware of a shadowed figure hiding on top of one of the higher cloud balls, "For all we know, they could be hiding traps inside them."

"I'll check one," X offered, forming his buster.

X aimed at a ball further away from them and fired a normal shot from it. The plasma shot collided with the ball...and a large explosion destroyed the tree branch the ball was floating above. Usopp tried to copy Luffy's rubber ability with how low his jaw had dropped while his eyes bugged out, ending in points.

"..." X looked at his buster before shooting a ball a bit down the milky road, releasing a startled cobra with wings on it, the tip of its tail missing and the end of it cauterized.

"Oh! It's like a game of chance! We pop the balls and something happens!" Luffy cheered.

"Most likely...only in this case, the 'surprise' hidden in these balls are bad," X stated.

"Ho! Ho ho! You are quick to assume!" a voice spoke up, causing the small group to tense up as one of the cloud balls began to float down towards them, "There is no telling what will come out of my surprise clouds!"

The quartet looked at the figure, sitting on top of the ball in a meditative state. His body was...well...large. Very large. In fact, remove the wings and let him curl up, he would look exactly like one of the balls there. He had long, dark red hair with an orange hat and sunglasses on his face, orange gloves and boots on his hands and feet, and a line of gold rings going down his body.

"Heso!" the ball-like figure greeted, "Thank you for choosing my Ball Ordeal! Ho ho ho~!"

"...Who the hell's the dumpling freak?" Sanji asked.

"Oh? It is simple, ho ho ho~!" the ball like man laughed as he began to dance a bit on top of the cloud ball, "I am Satori of the Forest, one of God Enel's Shinkan~ Ho ho ho~!"

"Satori...It does fit for a Shinkan to be named that," X noted.

"Eh?" Usopp looked at X.

"In the Void Century, there was a place called Japan. There, 'Satori' was the Buddhist term for awakening, 'comprehension; understanding.' It is derived from the Japanese verb satoru. In the Zen Buddhist tradition, satori refers to the experience of kenshō, 'seeing into one's true nature.' Ken means 'seeing,' shō means "nature' or 'essence.'"

"Oh, I do like that!" Satori laughed as he continued to dance on the ball.

"Oi, dango! Quit dancing!" Sanji snapped, "Where are Nami-swan and the others?! Are they safe?!"

"Oh ho ho~? Do you mean the sacrifices?" Satori asked, "If so, I wouldn't know. Even if they're left alone, they're going to die! Even if they manage to escape, they're still going to die! Ho ho~!"

"Say what?!" Sanji growled.

"You should worry about yourselves," Satori advised, "Just so you know, you'll of course need to beat me to continue ahead~! Ho ho~!" he laughed as he jumped off the cloud ball and headed towards them.

"Gh?! He's heading this way!" Usopp freaked as he dashed behind X, "L-Luffy, do something!"

"On it! I'll shoot him down!" Luffy declared as he reeled his arm back, "Gomu-Gomu-no…"

"You're going to stretch, aren't you?" Satori asked.

"PISTOL!" Luffy roared, sending his arm out at Satori.

"Yeeeeeeehaw!" Satori cried out as he actually dodged the fast, stretching punch with ease before punching Luffy...who was sent flying back, giving a cry of pain.

"EH?! A-A punch hurt Luffy?!" Usopp exclaimed in shock.

"A punch?" Satori repeated, "I am sorry, but it is a bit different from a punch, and a hit."

"I'll show you different!" Sanji growled as he charged.

"An upper kick with the right foot…" Satori spoke.

"Collier…" Sanji began to kick at Satori's neck.

"Only the well-trained are given the power of Mantra," Satori explained as he dodged the kick.

"?!" Sanji's eyes widened a Satori held his open palm towards Sanji's face, _'He….He can predict my movements?!'_

Satori let out a rising yell as Sanji was suddenly sent flying, crashing into the same tree Luffy hit.

"S-Sanji!" Usopp freaked before tensing up, feeling Satori's palm on the back of his head.

"It is different from a punch and a hit…" Satori explained, " **Impact**." before he could perform whatever he did to the other two, he moved back, avoiding a plasma shot aimed right at his wrist, "Hoh~? I'm not sure what that shot was made of, but I still saw it."

"...You have something in your glove, letting you hit others internally instead of externally," X noted.

"Huh?"

"I can tell by the way your glove's palm is shaped and that you can't fully make a fist with that hand," X informed, "...It's a Dial."

"Th-There's a Dial like that?!" Usopp gasped.

"Most likely…" X nodded, "And if I had to guess, it absorbs the force of the attack sent by the wielder's opponent, and sends it back at them with double the impact strength."

"GH?!" Satori tensed, _'That one...he figured out what I was doing from just two hits of Impact?'_

"...Telling by his reaction, I can see I was correct," X noted, "Still...a close range battle with him could prove difficult, and it will be hard to get a shot in from far range."

"Ho, ho-hooo!" Satori grinned as he jumped back and onto a ball, "That's right! And I know when you'll attack me and from where thanks to my Mantra! In the Ordeal of Balls, your survival rate is only... _ten percent_."

"Ulp…" Usopp gulped as, in the trees, Luffy and Sanji began to get up, coughing up bits of blood, "T-Ten percent…?"

X formed his buster once more, "..."

"Heh," Satori covered his eyes with his hat, "A shot aimed for my right shoulder. No, the left, right, left, right, knee, shin, stomach, neck, face..."

 _'He's constantly saying just where I'm going to aim for before I move my arm towards it,'_ X thought, _'But…'_

He fired a shot, Satori grinned as he saw X had just aimed randomly and the shot missed him completely, "Ho, ho-hoo? Really now? Aiming blindly like that? How s…"

 ***BOOOM!***

"You got him!" Usopp exclaimed as a burning Satori crashed into the tree below him.

"No," X replied, "I shot the surprise ball that was just behind his head. Captain!" Luffy looked at X, "He can tell where we will attack...but only if we aim at him!"

"Eh? How did you see that?" Luffy asked.

"A few times when I was about to move my buster to aim, I would move it to a missing shot where it would hit something around him," X informed, "Yet each time I was about to aim at his person, he would say exactly where I was about to aim."

"Oh...well let me…"

"Don't attack him physically," X informed further, "He'll send it back at you with double the force."

"Ugh...Wh-Why you…" Satori growled as he got up, burns littering him as he glared at X behind his sunglasses, _'What kind of Blue Sea Dweller is he? In just a few minutes, he figured out how to circumvent my Mantra and figured out Impact!'_ "Let's see you handle this then!" he pulled out a stripped cane and whacked a ball at them, "Bikkuritama Tsuki (Surprise Ball Attack)!"

"Gah! Duck!" Usopp yelped before the ball shot by them, "Huh?" he turned and yelped, "Ah! Sanji! It's coming for you!"

"Gh…" Sanji tensed up, ready to jump out of the way...when the ball bounced off another and then one more, heading right back at Karasu-maru.

"IT'S COMING BACK!-!-!?" Usopp screamed.

"I've got…" X began before a ball hit him in the back, popping into a cobra with wings that wrapped around him, "!"

"Don't forget me~" Satori taunted as the cobra bit into X...only to pull back as its teeth shattered, "Wh-what?!"

"Do not assume you can poison me," X stated as he pulled the cobra off him, being careful not to hurt it even more, "In a way, your surprise attack was a dud."

"GAH! Gotta dodge!" Usopp moved back...only for his nose to hit the ball that had been bounced back at him...and popped into a pile of flowers, "?!"

"Mmm..a dud…" Satori frowned a bit as Usopp nearly fell over the boat in shock had X not grabbed him before he began to dance about the bubbles, making sure to kick and whack them all over, bouncing them about in a multitude of directions, "But even if one is a dud, others won't! Ho, ho-hoo!"

' _He's right,'_ X thought, _'Even if one is a dud, there's still a 50-50 chance one will be a trap.'_ he looked to see Satori was nowhere near anymore balls at the moment, _'And he's keeping as many balls away from him, so Usopp and I can't trigger them near him.'_

"Mmm...Mmm…" Usopp gulped as he tried his best to avoid any balls that would come their way before four stopped in front of him ,"...oh no." he flinched, waiting for whatever was supposed to happen...only for four different colored birds to pop out of the balls, "...eh? Another dud, or...did I hit the jackpot?" the results? Usopp was pecked furiously by the birds, "GAH! Not a Jackpot! NOT A JACKPOT!-!-!"

Sanji rolled out of the way of a ball that sprouted spikes before jumping over a ball that burst six crab legs and two large crab claws that tried to cut him in two. Nearby, Luffy yelped as he was sent flying by the force of an exploding ball right into a ball that blew up into mochi.

"Ho! Ho-ho~! I hope you are enjoying my Surprise Billiards!" Satori laughed, "It so fun, you'll end up lost in my Forest of Illusions! Ho ho~!"

* * *

Roll sighed as she paced around the deck of Merry, "Honestly...Leaving Chopper-chan and I behind like this...Oh, I swear that Zoro planned for making sure we had the shortest straws. He's probably doing something to really damage his body and trying to not let us know!"

"That seems like something he'd do," Chopper agreed.

It had been decided three of them would go out to look for the other group to bring them to the Merry. After a suggestion of two shortest straws would stay with the Merry, it had resulted in just Roll and Chopper staying while Nami, Zoro, and Robin would go off. Chopper looked over at the whistle nailed to the mast before glancing at the metal beneath it.

"Roll...Why did you jump off Merry and look at her underside?" Chopper asked.

"I was checking for any cracks in the keel," Roll replied.

"Keel?"

"Yes. You know that raised level of wood underneath Merry? That's the keel, what makes Merry herself," Roll explained, "In medical terms...you could consider it the spine of the ship."

"Oh!" Chopper nodded, "So that means if the keel breaks, Merry would…" his eyes widened when Roll nodded, "?!"

"Yes. I was checking for cracks on the keel for that," Roll replied.

"But Merry's a great ship! She even flew up here!"

"I know, but the way the waters of the Grand Line are like from the few days I've been on them…" Roll bit her lower lip, "I'm just worried for Merry. She's so little on a sea so fierce and insane." she looked around, "Maybe we'll get a chance to reinforce her up here, make her a bit more durable for the seas below."

"Uhn," Chopper nodded as he walked over to the whistle and put it on.

"Chopper-kun, what are you doing?" Roll asked.

"Putting the whistle on incase we need to blow it," Chopper replied.

 _Pa sa..._

"Hm? What was…?" Roll began as the two turned to the starboard side of the ship and froze.

"What? You're the only sacrifices to kill?" a man riding on a menacing giant bird with purple feathers pondered.

The man was rather unique in terms of looks. He wore a stereotypical aviator's uniform from the early 1900s with a pencil mustache. On his head there was an aviator hat decorated with wings, and a pair of goggles on the front. His attire was composed of an orange fur-lined jacket, with brown swollen sleeves decorated by beige spots; loose matching orange pants held up by a belt, fur-lined gloves and boots, and a purple scarf around his neck. He had wings much like everyone else they saw on Skypeia so far and wielded a large lance in one hand. Chopper...wisely blew the whistle as loud as he could, his eye bulging out of their sockets in fear.

* * *

"?!" X looked out as he jumped over a ball.

"X, what's wrong?" Luffy asked.

"Someone blew the whistle on Merry," X informed.

"EH?!" Luffy exclaimed, "I WANTED TO DO THAT~!"

 ***BOOM***

"LUFFY!-!-!" Usopp screamed as Luffy fell towards the milky roads below.

"Usopp, take the controls!" X ordered as he jumped off the boat.

He landed on a ball before jumping off it in time to avoid the spikes erupting from it.

"Ho! Ho-ho~! Bikkuritama Tsuki!" Satori shouted as he kicked several more balls at X, who jumped along them and avoiding explosions, crabs, carnivorous sky fish, and an explosion of flowers.

X landed on a branch and barely managed to catch Luffy before he could fall past him into the last of the Milky Road below them. Luffy coughed out a bit of smoke as X shook him to his senses.

"Ugh! That ball jerk…" Luffy growled as he glared up at Satori, "He keeps dodging Sanji and me and hitting us with that glove of his!"

"Captain, remember that he can predict your attacks since they aim at him," X reminded before looking past Satori and the branches overhead, "...Maybe…"

"You got an idea?" Sanji asked as he jumped over.

X nodded, "Usopp, aim high!"

"Trying to shoot me again, blue man?" Satori smirked as he covered his eyes and began to dodge the shots fired by X at him, "Ho! Ho-ho~! Keep trying~! You can't hit me!"

"I can't hit you…" X replied before an explosion went off above and large branches began to rain down, striking Satori and sending him down onto the ground beneath them, "But attacks that hit you when aimed elsewhere can."

"Mwahahah! I did it!" Usopp whooped, "Great idea, X!"

"Luffy, get us back to the boat!" Sanji barked.

"Right!" Luffy nodded as he extended an arm out and managed to grab the seat of the boat before retracting, pulling himself, X, and Sanji back to the boat.

"Punch it!" Sanji barked.

"Punching!" Usopp complied as the boat rocketed down the Milky Road.

"Guess we're part of the ten percent for this trial," X noted in relief.

"HOLD IT!"

"Why won't he stay down~?!" Usopp cried as the four looked to see Satori charging after them...leading a massive dragon made of the balls.

"DRAGON!?" Luffy exclaimed in awe.

"Tama Dragon!" Satori roared, his clothes a mess and his goggles cracked, "You won't get away from me! Rest in peace for you cannot get away from one of God's Shinkan!"

"I'm detecting high amounts of heat from one of the balls making up that dragon," X informed, "It may be made up of balls that contain specific ones."

"Ho! Ho-ho~! You have that right! It's made from explosion balls, blade-filled balls, and so much more!" Satori laughed as the dragon shot right at them, "Go, my dragon!"

"WAH!" Luffy, Usopp, and Sanji screamed.

"!-!" X's eyes widened, _'Too close to detonate safely and it appears to be controlled by Satori. Intelligence? ...Negative. It's more than likely that Satori is controlling it, but how?'_ he was brought out of his thoughts when the boat rocked, "?"

"Gomu-Gomu no…" Luffy began, his legs wrapped around the seat of the boat...and Usopp.

"Oh not again!" Usopp squeaked, his eyes bulging out of his eyes.

"X, grab on to the railing!" Sanji barked, grabbing onto the railing.

X managed to grab it before the Tama Dragon impacted with the Milky Road. It took a few moments to come back out. The reason for that was simple enough: the boat was gone along with the trial goers.

"Where did they go?!" Satori exclaimed in shock as he looked around.

* * *

Sanji and Usopp screamed bloody murder as the boat barely missed branches, massive trunks, and the occasional piece of ruins. Eventually, they crash-landed upon a Milky Road and began to resume their path down it. Luffy retracted his legs and Usopp fell over, foaming at the mouth with blank eyes.

"Good idea, captain," X noted before Sanji rammed his foot into Luffy's face.

"YOU SHITTY CAPTAIN! WARN US NEXT TIME!" Sanji barked, his eye blank and teeth shark-like.

"Sky Island scary...Sky Island scary…" Usopp chanted.

"Hey, X, are we still on a path to Merry?" Luffy asked.

"Checking," X complied as he closed his eyes, "I believe we are. We ended up on an entirely different route as well."

"So we're away from the ball guy?" Usopp asked as he recovered.

"I believe so," X replied before tensing, "Someone on a giant bird is with Merry and attacking Chopper and Roll!"

"WHAT?!" the trio exclaimed in shock.

* * *

"Hah!" Roll shouted as she jumped over the stab aimed at her before swinging her broom at the man, only for him to lean back in time to dodge the swing.

"You use a broom to do battle?" the man asked in disbelief.

"So what? I've dealt with a lot of idiots using this broom," Roll replied before the man ducked a thrown barrel from Chopper, his body much bigger and seemed to resemble more of a fur-covered human with his hooves replaced with hands and feet and his antlers missing.

"Hmph!" the man had his bird fly away from them and hover near the ship, "My name is Shura. Your attacks won't hit me no matter how hard you try thanks to my Mantra."

"A saying you like to repeat will stop us from hitting you and your bird?" Roll asked, raising a brow.

"How droll...trying to instigate me into attacking with trying to use another word entirely," Shura snorted, "What shall we do, Fuza?"

"Gu~~~~~ka ka ka ka! GU KAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKA!"

"Ulp!" Chopper paled.

"What's wrong?" Roll asked.

"That bird just said 'Let's filet them and feed the big brown one to the fishes and offer the girl to God as an offering while using the ship as the fire for cooking the big brown one,'" Chopper translated.

"You are NOT hurting our ship!" Roll growled, shaking her broom at them.

"A-And you won't kill us!" Chopper added, shaking a bit.

"Really now? Hmph. You want to live without sacrifice?" Shura asked as he leaned to the left, dodging a shot fired from Roll's Buster with his back to them, "If someone wants to survive, another must die. This is reality." he swung his spear and stabbed another thrown barrel by Chopper without even looking, "You already know that this is the Altar of Sacrifice, correct?"

"That's what the others said," Roll recalled.

"Right now your other friends are risking their lives to come here! On this island, each of the four Shinkan, God's Officers, control a territory," Shura explained, "The Ordeal of Balls, the Ordeal of Iron, the Ordeal of String, and the Ordeal of Swamp. When the target enters one of the territories, no one other than the corresponding priest may attack. That's the rule."

"I feel there's a 'however' in there," Roll noted.

"Correct. The Altar of Sacrifice is not located in any of the territories. In other words, this is a free area, so any priest may attack. However, we have to wait until those in the trial have died."

"...So if the others come here, then we can leave?" Chopper asked.

"Yes. That is so... _if_ you can escape from this area."

"...That's not the last of the rules, is it?" Roll asked, gripping her broom tighter.

"Perceptive of you," Shura replied, "In special situations, the rules can be changed."

"Special Situations?" Chopper and Roll repeated.

"Correct. For example...if they managed to get from one Ordeal to another in some way, the first priest can go after them in the other's Ordeal," Shura informed, "Or...for this case, three of the sacrifices used vines to enter the forest out of here."

 _'DAMMIT, ZORO! YOU JUST HAD TO WANT TO GO FIND GOD!'_ Chopper and Roll thought, the former's eyes bulging out and his jaw dropping while the latter developed an eye twitch.

"For the crime of running away, a sacrifice is demanded in the form of someone paying with their life," Shura went on before Chopper and Roll's eyes widened, "This is the way of the world."

"The barrel caught fire!" Chopper exclaimed as the barrel impaled on the spear erupted in flames.

"That spear...I...I think it has some sort of Dial in it," Roll noted, "Maybe...a Heat Dial of sorts?"

"When they come back, they will also be punished...so they can realize their mistakes," Shura went on before jumping off his bird and right at them, "YOU MUST GIVE YOUR LIFE TO GOD!"

"NO~! NO WAY!" Chopper freaked.

He swung a punch, only for Shura to dodge it and stab Chopper in the shoulder. Chopper cried out in pain and flames erupted from where he was impaled by the spear. Roll charged at Shura and swung her broom, only for Shura to rip his spear out of Chopper while kicking her away from him. Roll rolled onto her feet while swinging her broom, entering a stalemate with the spear of Shura. She cringed a bit as she felt her broom starting to heat up from the spear while Shura stomped on Chopper to keep him pinned.

"You're still holding onto that despite the heat of my lance?" Shura asked.

"This...this is nothing…" Roll grit her teeth, "Compared to how hot Heat Man can make things...this heat is just a summer breeze to me!"

"I do not know who this Heat Man is, but he's nothing more than a mere matchstick compared to God and his S-" Shura began before jumping back from a stab of a familiar lance.

"Thank you for waiting," Gan Fall thanked.

"The Sky Knight~!" Chopper nearly cried tears of joy.

"Ho? A rare guest!" Shura noted before the two jumped on their birds, "Gan Fall!"

"Be careful! He's somehow predicting our movements!" Roll warned.

"KNIGHT OF THE SKY~~~~~!-!-!" Chopper cheered.

"A user of Mantra… We will need to fight harder, Pierre," Gan Fall noted.

"Bih~!"

"An old man like you is useless! Let's play around with them, Fuza!"

"Gukakakaka!"

* * *

"Do you think that Satori guy is following us?" Usopp gulped nervously.

"I am unsure," X replied, "The canopy between the two areas is too thick for the satellite to look through."

"Oh! So it's a mystery to X now? Shishishishi! This is gonna be great!" Luffy beamed, pumping a fist.

"DON'T ACT SO HAPPY WHEN THERE'S NO EARLY ALERT!" Usopp barked.

"We're coming up on something," Sanji noted, driving Karasu-maru.

The trio talking turned to look ahead. At first, it looked to be a simple enough field of tall grass, bending to the gentle winds. But as they came upon it, Usopp paled significantly as his knees began to knock together, while X narrowed his eyes. Skulls. Dozens upon dozens of skulls, impaled upon wooden spikes about the tall grass.

"Why...j...just why…?" Usopp comically sobbed under his breath, tears streaming down his cheeks in a wavy pattern.

 _'How does that work?'_ X pondered, _'Has human biology altered vastly since Roll and I were sealed away? ...I should ask her and Chopper later if that is true or not.'_

"Oi. Are we in a graveyard?" Luffy asked bluntly.

"It appears so," X replied.

"DON'T ACT SO CALM!" Usopp snapped, slapping the back of X and Luffy's heads.

"Oi, X, can you tell us which path this comes from?" Sanji asked.

"..." X closed an eye before responding a few moments later with, "The third tunnel. My memory banks say that it's the 'Ordeal of Iron.'"

"Ordeal of...Iron?" Usopp repeated.

"Oi, oi, it'll be fine. We've got a guy stronger than iron right here," Sanji noted as he motioned to X, "We'll be fine."

"We should still be careful," X advised as he looked around before they passed one of the skulls on a pike, "?! Usopp, get down!"

"Eh?" Usopp turned to X, not noticing a thin string that the back of his helmet/hat hit.

The skull's jaw opened up and X barely pulled Usopp's head down before a metal spike shot out of the skull's mouth and impaled a tree on the other side of the clearing.

"GAH!" Usopp screamed once he saw it, "WHAT WAS THAT?! If X hadn't pulled me down, I'd...ulp!"

"There are tripwires all around us," X observed, looking around, "Each one is barely visible to the human eye, but they're all around us up ahead. Of the fifty-seven I can see right now...we'll trigger half of them no matter what we do."

"What?! Why?!" Sanji demanded.

"Because Karasu-maru's figurehead and parasol will trigger them," X replied as he jumped off and landed by the pike, ripping off the skull, "And when they're triggered, they'll activate these Dials inside of the mouths of the skulls."

"Eh?!" Luffy exclaimed, "Did they eat Dials before dying? That's stupid."

"YOU SHOULD KNOW STUPIDITY!" Sanji and Usopp dope-slapped him before turning to X, who was removing another skull, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

"Taking out the Dials," X replied, "We could probably use them for new weapons, inventions, and possibly for Merry as well."

"Oh! Good idea!" Usopp agreed before hearing a faint snap and the trio barely ducked under a flamethrower from another skull.

"Oh! We could probably use that for a portable grill," Sanji noted, "Usopp, take the wheel."

"Eh?! M-Me?!" Usopp exclaimed as Sanji jumped off Karasu-maru and landed on the field.

"Shishishishi! Oi! Make sure you get a lot of those fire ones!" Luffy called as he started drooling, "Being able to have food anywhere...Sugei!"

 _'X, you're a goddamn bastard that's infected Sanji with wanting to go out into the field of danger…'_ Usopp thought as he pulled his goggles down to try to look for the wires.

"GAH!" Sanji backflipped, barely avoiding a series of barbed wire shooting out of skulls, "There are tripwires in the grass, too!"

"?!" X tilted back, barely avoiding the barbed wire that shot through the ground at him and managed to graze the back of Karasu-maru, "Pressure plates…"

 _"That is correct. I've laid each trap here."_

"!?" the four tensed.

"X…" Sanji began.

"I was focused on keeping an eye on the area while collecting Dials," X replied.

 _"Do you hear the voice of the sad warrior, Holy?"_

 _"WAFF!"_

 _"...The results are the same no matter how many times they battle...Gan Fall was defeated by Shura, but the Trial of Orb was evaded…"_

The four looked around before they finally spotted a figure ahead of them, sitting seiza upon what appeared to be a white boulder of sorts. He was tall, bald, and muscular. Like the other inhabitants of Skypiea, he had a pair of small wings sprouting from his back. He was wearing a pair of sunglasses with point-like extensions on both sides. His right arm was covered with swirling tattoos; the one on his wrist, in particular, resembles a bracelet. His attire consisted of a dark-green A-shirt, loose grey pants with many pockets and what looked like zippers under his knees, a long and flowing white sash around his waist, and dark leather boots with bandages around the soles.

"What you see before you is Iron Cloud," the man informed, "As light as cloud, but as hard as iron. It can be shot out of a Milky Dial."

"You are the Shikan that runs this Ordeal," X noted.

"I am. My name is Ohm and this is my Ordeal of Iron. The rate of survival for this...is _zero_ ," the man informed.

"Z-Zero…?" Usopp squeaked out a squawk, his eyes bulging out as his body turned pure white...even his clothes.

"Even if you try to get all the Dials, you don't know when you'll trip a switch. I don't even have to attack you," Ohm continued.

 _'Does his name mean a unit of measurement for electrical resistance or is it 'Om,' as in the holiest symbol in Hinduism that begins most mantras?'_ X pondered, an eye close before it snapped open, "Satori is heading this way!"

"WHAT?!" Usopp screamed.

"Now we have to fight two at the same time?" Sanji questioned, "Tch. One was bad enough…"

"I FOUND YOU, YOU BASTARDS!" Satori roared as he erupted from the trees, still with his dragon by him, "NOW D…"

 ***SHINK***

"G-Gah…!" Satori gagged as the four looked at him with wide eyes...or, rather, the barbed wire impaling him through the neck.

"You hit my tripwires with that dragon," Ohm noted calmly as more barbed wires impaled every single ball the dragon was made out of, "Pity."

"O-Ohm…" Satori gurgled out as the balls began to light up.

 ***KRA-KAK-BOOOOOOM!-!-!***

"WHOA!" Usopp freaked as the shockwave of the explosion nearly tossed Karasu-maru completely over as Luffy could only look at the massive explosion in shock.

The boat nearly fully fell over when a blur rammed into it, forcing Karasu-maru to correct itself. X landed with Sanji on the boat with Sanji forcing Usopp out of the way to gun the motor. Luffy and X just watched, keeping their eyes on something falling from the smoke that had once been Satori of the Ordeal of Balls. While Luffy couldn't fully see it, X could. His skin was horribly burnt and covered in lacerations that were sealed shut by intense heat. A few swords were impaling him, fused to the flash-fired skin. His glasses were gone...or...or rather...they were melted onto his face, the glass in them shattered to expose the burst sockets. If he was still alive, he would never be able to grow hair due to the harsh burns now on his scalp. Then again...the spear didn't help matters where it was in his body...nor for the fact that it was the first thing to hit the ground.

"Fool," Ohm frowned, "To lose yourself in anger at someone escaping your ordeal you lose focus on your Mantra and where you were heading." his frown grew deeper as he watched Karasu-maru speed down, "And your final explosion snapped the wires along the Milky Road." he struck the boulder under him with the butt of his large hilt, "Holy! Trigger the White-Barbed Iron Deathmatch!"

The 'boulder' shook before it stood up, revealing it to be a massive dog with wings on its back. The dog howled before running off down the path, seemingly flying past traps set up.

"Eh?! Th-That's a giant dog with wings! Why is everything up here growing wings?!" Usopp gawked.

"It looks like it's heading somewhere up ahead," Sanji frowned as he tried to make the boat go faster.

"I was able to pick up him saying something about an 'iron deathmatch,'" X noted.

"Deathmatch?" Usopp paled before whipping out a megaphone from his bag =NO! BAD! SIT! HEEL! STAY! BAD DOGGY!= Holy stopped on a dime, causing Ohm to fall off =IT WORKED?!=

"You…" Ohm spoke, making Usopp squeak, before he stabbed his sword into the ground, "Eisen...Blossom."

"Eisen?" Usopp pondered.

"It's another word to call Iron," X informed before iron spikes erupted from the Milky Road, barely missing their boat as more soon followed.

"GAH! THEY'RE CHASING US!-!-!" Usopp screamed.

"FASTER! GO FASTER!" Sanji barked at Karasu-maru, trying to step harder on the pedal as if it would make it go faster.

"...Sorry, Conis," X muttered before pulling out a screwdriver and began to quickly remove the parasol from the boat and threw it at the chasing spikes...only for it to do nothing at all to hinder them and instead was shredded to bits.

"X, what are you doing?!" Usopp gawked.

"Removing parts to increase our speed," X explained, "Though the majority of the vehicle is made of vital components to keep us moving and floating." his hand grabbed Luffy's hand before it could grab the Dial in the back, "Captain, that is what's keeping us from being impaled by the spikes."

"Oh…" Luffy blinked twice.

X had to grab the other hand while Usopp barked, "ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL US?!"

"Holy, trigger!"

Holy barked before stepping on something. Ahead of them, the jaws of the skulls opened up. Usopp, Sanji, and Luffy screamed as a multitude of iron barbwire shot out of the skull jaws and completely cut off their path.

"WE'RE TRAPPED!-!-!" Usopp freaked.

X looked out at the 'wall' of barbed wire. His vision zoomed in on them to try to get a good analysis. X gave a nod before turning his arm into its X-Buster form.

"Everyone, keep your heads down," X ordered as he stood up.

"Huh?" Sanji blinked.

Despite the confusion, the three complied with Sanji keeping his foot on the pedal. X aimed at the 'wall' ahead of them. Aiming his X-Buster, he didn't fire immediately. Instead, the shot was staying inside of the buster, absorbing more and more energy into it with each second. Just as they were a few feet away, X finally fired. The shot that erupted from the X-Buster was as big as X and pure blue in color. The moment the shot touched the barbed wire, the shot tore right through it.

"Impossible..." Ohm's eyes widened behind his sunglasses as Holy's jaw dropped and his eyes bulged out to points.

"SUGEI~~~!-!-!" Luffy exclaimed in awe.

"WHAT WAS THAT?!" Usopp freaked, "YOU DIDN'T TELL US YOU COULD CHARGE UP THOSE SHOTS!"

"You never asked," X replied.

"...D-Did you just make a joke?" Usopp gawked.

"No. None of you asked if Roll and I were capable of firing Charged Shots," X replied, tilting his head in honest confusion.

"..." Usopp banged his head on the side of the boat as they got away from the now-wrecked Ordeal of Iron.

"..." Ohm narrowed his eyes, "Holy, we're going after them." lightning crackled above followed by the rumble of thunder, "...Very well, God. Holy, stand down."

Holy walked over to Ohm, panting. Once Ohm was on, the two went off to reset and repair the traps. Their God had spoken...a large group of Intruders were on their way.

* * *

"That was insane," Sanji noted as he lit his third cigarette since they left the Ordeal of Iron.

"'Insane' is putting it lightly!" Usopp exclaimed, taking over for driving Karasumaru, "Balls filled with painful surprises, winged people predicting our attacks, a giant dog that's been trained too well, and all those skulls filled with traps…"

"It was so cool~!" Luffy cheered, "Especially when X blew up the wires with the laser!"

 ***WHAM***

"Oi, X, can you get in contact with the ship?" Sanji asked as Luffy poked the goose egg on his head.

"We're almost there," X replied, an eye closed, "The man attacking them is gone and it seems the others are returning." he blinked twice before closing his eye again, "And Roll just threw Zoro into the water the moment he walked over to her."

"He must have been the reason they got attacked on Merry," Usopp frowned.

"Marimo…!" Sanji growled, a flame igniting on the end of his cigarette.

 _'It combusted?'_ X pondered before his open eye widened, "We're about to have the berserker return!"

"EH?!" the trio exclaimed before X's eye opened and he quickly fired behind them, shattering the berserker's shield held by a man with wild dark brown hair pulled into a mohawk with a segmented ponytail and tribal markings on his body with a group of men behind him all with tribal markings and the same tribal attire he had.

"Gh! The cow again!" Luffy growled as the winged men landed on the shore by the Milky Road they were on.

"Wiper! Should we engage?" one of the men asked, wearing a mask of the upper half of a buffalo's head on his head.

"..." the red-haired man's eyes narrowed at X as the robot kept his Buster armed, "No." he glared at them, "Why are you Blue Sea Dwellers here?"

"Our companions were taken to the altar here," X informed.

"X!" Usopp barked.

"You bastard! You tried to attack us when we just got up here from that big stream!" Luffy barked.

"?! They came up on the Knock-Up Stream?" one of the men gasped.

"They must be either brave or truly foolish," another muttered.

"To think that there are Blue Sea Dwellers with that kind of bravado," another added before Wiper glared at them all, forcing them to shut up and stand at attention.

"Do you have Mantra as well?" Wiper demanded.

"No," X shook his head, "I picked up the sound of your Dial Skates coming towards us."

"Considering that we've had to deal with a damn ball and a shitty bald bastard with an overgrown mutt, do you not expect us to shoot first and ask questions later?" Sanji questioned.

 _'So these are the ones who Aisa told us were fighting two of the Shinkan and killed one…'_ Wiper thought as X closed an eye.

 _'It's not just these men...there are-at best-over a hundred people dressed up like these men before us in here, all attacking one of the trials or searching in the Ordeal of Balls for Satori…'_ X thought before opening an eye, "Captain."

"?" Luffy looked at X.

"May I suggest something?" X asked.

"Sure," Luffy nodded before X whispered the suggestion to him, "...Eh? Really?" X nodded, "...Okay."

X nodded.

"What did you just agree on?" Usopp asked as X stood up and held up his Buster.

"..." Wiper readied himself before flinching when X changed his Buster back into his hand.

"We wish to make an alliance with you and your tribe," X informed.

"EH?!" Usopp's eyes popped out in shock.

"Why should we ally ourselves with Blue Sea Dwellers?" Wiper growled.

"Because we share the same enemy," X replied.

"And how do you know we have a common enemy?" one of the men asked.

"I have a strong sense of hearing. I can hear battles taking place all over, including the Ordeal of Iron where we just left," X explained, "You have more men with you here and, if I am right, are attacking 'God's' Shinkan. If you have any men looking to face Satori, then I'm afraid you're too late."

"He got blown up by his own balls!" Luffy added.

 _'So it was Satori who fell and they fought in the Ordeal of Iron…'_ Wiper thought before scowling, "How did you survive the Ordeal of Iron if you said you just left from there?"

"Our shitty Captain here used a goddamn idiot move to send us from the Ordeal of Balls to the Ordeal of Iron where the bald bastard and his overgrown mutt tried to trap us," Sanji informed, _'In for one Beri, in for them all I guess.'_ "X blasted the traps he set up to keep us from escaping with his Buster."

"Hooray for the beam!" Luffy cheered.

"In truth, almost none of us were hoping to get into big trouble up here," X continued, "We wanted to come up to the sky and were it not for Montblanc-san, we…"

"SAY THAT AGAIN!"

"...Montblanc?" X repeated as he looked at Wiper.

"You...A _Montblanc_ aided you to come up here?" Wiper asked, "...Listen up! We're escorting them to the Sacrificial Altar!"

"EH?!" Luffy, Usopp, and Wiper's men exclaimed in surprise.

* * *

"X…" Nami scowled.

"Yes, Nami-san?"

"When you left to get us, how many people were with you?"

"Just Captain Luffy, Usopp-san, Sanji-san, and myself."

"Then how do you explain them?!" Nami pointed at Wiper and his men.

"I mentioned Cricket-san," X replied, "It seems Wiper-san's ancestor knew a Montblanc and they had a friendship at my best guess."

Nami sighed before looking around. The Merry had received a bit of damage from the battle between Chopper, Roll, and Gan Fall against Shura and his bird Fuza. It was mainly burn damage that could easily be fixed. While Wiper was speaking to a snail with a human-like mouth (which was rather disturbing to Roll while X was interested to know about), his men were gawking at the pile of slain Sky Sharks that Zoro was sitting on top of with a large goose egg from Roll's broom on his noggin. Chopper currently had Gan Fall on the deck, coated in bandages. When the group had arrived to the altar, Chopper had explained that Shura had stopped when thunder rumbled with some lightning in the sky and just left them, but not before he got a final blow to Gan Fall in, sending him into the water. Roll had managed to stop Chopper from jumping in while she jumped in to get him instead. X had, barely, managed to convince Wiper and his men to stand down from killing Gan Fall while he was currently unconscious and noted there seemed to be more to what was going on here in the sky than originally expected. Once Wiper put the snail away into a satchel on his waist, Roll explained their encounter with Cricket and what happened to the Montblanc name.

"A...a Liar? No...He was no liar," Wiper shook his head.

"Actually, he was misinformed," Robin spoke up as she walked up.

"Huh?" Roll blinked twice as she and Wiper looked at her.

Robin took out a small rectangular device, "Ms. Nurse, I must admit that this strange camera you gave me that you had on is much better than the ones used on the Grand Line." pressing a button on the side, the screen on the device lit up which she then put her finger on to change it to another screen of pictures, "We managed to find this on our trip through the jungle."

"?! I...Is that the back half of Cricket-san's house?!" Roll gasped, looking at what looked like half a building covered in the growing jungle.

"Based on a few charcoal etchings I made before we left compared to ones I made of this place, this is the missing half of Mr. Montblanc's abode," Robin replied as she gave it back to Roll, "Nolan died believing that the half of the island he had been to sunk. However, it was sent up here most likely by a Knock Up Stream." she looked at Wiper, "Is that correct, Mr. Berserker?"

"..." Wiper nodded while looking at the thing Robin called a 'camera.'

"Oh!" Roll gasped before she started moving her finger on the screen before finding a picture, "Wiper-san," she held up the device to show Wiper a picture of Cricket standing on the shore as he was seeing them off, "I forgot I took a picture of him before we left!"

"?!" Wiper's eyes widened a fraction, _'Th...That's the Montblanc hat from the scriptures Calgara drew…! They...They really do know a Montblanc.'_

After nearly thirty minutes of waiting, a man wearing rid-tinted goggles, a black-haired woman, and a little kid in a white turban-like hat hiding partly behind the woman emerged from the jungle. Wiper spotted the girl and gave the two adults an annoyed glare.

"Why is Aisa here?" he growled before, after a few tense moments, sighed in aggravation, "She whined, didn't she?"

"Hey!" the little girl snapped.

"With puppy dog eyes and a shed tear," the goggle-wearing man confirmed.

"KAMAKIRI~!" Aisa whined before flinching and hiding behind the woman when Wiper renewed his glare and scowl at her.

"Tell them what you told me," Wiper spoke, looking at Roll.

Roll nodded, "We were helped up to here thanks to Montblanc Noland's descendent, Montblanc Cricket."

"?!" the three newcomers looked at her in surprise before the two adults looked at the girl.

"S...She's telling the truth," Aisa whispered.

"You have Mantra as well?" X asked.

"?! H-How did you...?!" Aisa gasped.

"From the encounter with Satori and Ohm, I've managed to learn that Mantra seems to vary in many ways and at various strengths. You sensed Satori's end and our escape from Ohm, did you not?"

"W-Well...yes," Aisa nodded.

"A Montblanc has sent us aide in the form of these Blue Sea Dwellers," Wiper informed, "Our goals are the same; to defeat God Enel!"

"Enel?" Roll repeated, tilting her head.

* * *

"So none of the Shandians have seen Enel's true face; just that of his Avatar's, Laki-san?" X questioned.

"Yes," the woman nodded, standing beside Usopp and Kamakiri, "No one has even seen God Enel himself. We're not even sure if his Shinkan have seen him in person."

X nodded as he wrote that down on the chalkboard, "Okay. I think we have everything until Gan Fall awakens."

"I still don't see why you're keeping _him_ alive," Laki glowered at Gan Fall, set up on a set of comforters with another over him, Pierre watching over him, away from the fire that was cooking some of the Sky Sharks Zoro killed while Sanji was trading recipes with another Shandian as they were preparing more food.

"He saved Roll, Chopper, and our ship," Usopp replied, "We owe him that much."

"And it would be good to hear his side of what has happened up here for four centuries," X added, _'A continuous war for nearly 400 years...Why does it fill me with dread and fear when I try to think of it?'_

"Why?" Kamakiri asked.

"Wouldn't you hate it if you were told only half a story that favored just only the one who told it and told to ignore the other half that could fill in some important questions?" X asked.

"..." Laki and Kamakiri shared looked.

"OOOOKAY!" Usopp shouted as he turned to the camp that was set up, "Thanks for everyone's report. Good work! After everyone's info, many things have become clear!" he tapped the blackboard, "But the most important information is this!-! This island is actually the golden city that Montblanc Cricket-san and his Saruyama Alliance have been searching for all this time!-!-!"

"WOW!-! REALLY?!-!?" Luffy exclaimed from behind a bone he was chewing up.

"Uh...I just reported that earlier!" Nami exclaimed with annoyance.

"How is he eating the bones?" Aisa gawked, sitting by Nami.

"What about that Mantra thing?" Zoro asked, taking a drink of his bottle of sake.

"The Shinkan use it to predict anything that attacks them," a Shandian by him noted, taking a gulp from his own sake bottle.

"We were able to figure out that it wouldn't work if we used it not on them but on things that could hit them," X noted, "So you could shoot at them in a way to make them think you missed but instead hit a large branch and send it down at them."

"That's good to hear," Wiper nodded.

"The softer, the better, right Chopper, Roll-chan?" Sanji asked.

"Hai," Roll nodded.

"Make it so he can drink it," Chopper advised, "His gullet was injured from the battle."

"YOOOOOOOOOOSHH!-!-! IT'S DECIDED!" Luffy roared in glee, "WE'LL GO AND FIND THE GOLD!-!-!-!"

" _After_ we help dethrone this Enel," Roll noted, ignoring the way Nami's head turned to look at her.

"The rest of our men should be arriving soon," Kamakiri noted, one of the strange snails in his hand.

"I think I've seen that before," Roll noted, scrunching her brown in thought, "But what is with that snail?"

"They're Transponder Snails," Robin explained, turning a page in her book, "We use them to talk to others around the planet so long as we have the right number for the snail we want to call."

"Ah, so like a telephone," Roll noted under her breath, _'I'm just glad that Papa stored my phone inside of my new body before sealing me up with X-Nii. Still...I hope we can find some material that X and I can use to make more for our crew while using X's satellite as a receiver and transmitter...'_

"They're bringing more firewood, right?" Zoro asked.

"Yeah. Don't get why you need so much, though," Kamakiri admitted.

"True. Letting the fire stay on when we're not using it will only expose our position to the enemy," Robin agreed.

"?!" Roll, Luffy, Usopp, and Zoro all looked at them with surprised looks.

"..." Roll sighed, "They don't get it, do they?"

"Baka...You hear that? They want us to put out the fire," Luffy shook his head.

"Oi, oi, oi. Guess they were more sheltered than anything," Zoro rolled his eyes.

"Don't say it like that, you guys. Robin's had a rough time and these guys have been at war for centuries now. They couldn't have known," Usopp defended.

"...What do you mean?" Robin asked before Usopp and Luffy were at her and Kamakiri's feet, crying and smacking the ground with a fist.

"Lighting a campfire is an obivous thing, yeah?!"

"It's the way of life to have a campfire on a camping night! Even if we die tonight!" Usopp agreed with his captain.

"You never let a campfire go out until the very end," Roll shook her head, "Especially with the precautions already set up to prevent a forest fire."

"What is wrong with you four?!" Nami barked, a tick mark on her head.

"Wiper! We're here!" a Shandian called as a group of men and some women arrived...all carrying logs or injured Shandians, "And we brought the firewood!"

"Get the injured over here for treatment!" Roll called, pointing at the flattest part of the clearing where she and Chopper were set up, "Any medical personnel should come here as well!"

"Awesome," Sanji gave a thumbs up at the ones carrying wood.

"Not you too, Sanji…" Nami groaned.

"Don't worry, Nami-swan," Sanji grinned as he held up a lit torch, "Those beasts are terrified of fire!"

"THEN WHAT'S THAT BEHIND YOU?!" Nami roared in fear, Aisa hiding behind her with wide frightened eyes, as both looked at the glowing eyes in the darkness behind Sanji.

"You were saying?" Wiper snarked as pure white wolves, their fur as fluffy as clouds with purple wings on their backs, emerged from the darkness with the lead one as big as Wiper with scars decorating it.

"Cloud Wolves," Laki grit her teeth as the Shandians tensed.

 _'They remind me of Su,'_ Roll noted.

The head wolf began to snarl and growl at them. Sanji blinked twice before looking at Chopper.

"Oi, is he saying something?" Sanji asked, "Chopper, come translate."

"M-Me?!" Chopper squeaked but still came over and the wolf began to bark and snarl, "'Hey, you puny pests! You've been keeping us awake with all the noise you're making! Go to sleep already, dammit!'"

"WHAT WAS THAT!?" Luffy, Wiper, and Sanji barked, eyes blank and teeth sharp.

"I DIDN'T SAY IT!" Chopper freaked before the head wolf began to speak again, "'Hey, you'd better not be trying to move in on our territory.' Ah! No, no, no! We were forced to come here!" he pointed a hoof at the Shandians, "NOT. A. WORD." the wolf spoke again, "'This is our land! You think you can barge in and start a fire!?' Ah…" Chopper put a hoof to his head as he tilted it down in regret, "Gomen nassai…" the wolf barked, "'Everything in this forest, from the trees to the woods, is ours!'"

 ***CRUNCH! WHAM! POW!***

"I'M NOT GIVING UP MY TREASURE!" Nami roared, her staff in hand, as she stood over a frightened Chopper and concussed cloud wolf leader.

"She's scarier than Laki…!" most of the Shandians whimpered, hiding behind Wiper.

"WHAT?!" Laki barked at them, causing them to freak.

"Good going. Now you've pissed them off," Wiper groaned.

"What do we do now?! Think of something!" Nami barked at Usopp.

"ME?!" Usopp freaked before a sharp bark made the pack of cloud wolves settle down.

"It's getting back up!" Roll gasped as the pack leader got up.

"'Shut up. The whole lot of you couldn't take her on,'" Chopper translated as the pack leader smirked at Nami, "'Babe, didn't know you had such a nice punch. I like you.'"

"So things are under control?" Usopp whispered.

"Looks like it," X agreed.

"I'm torn," Roll admitted.

"Why?" Usopp asked.

"On one hand, her greed is the reason all this happened. On the other hand, _her greed is the reason all this is happening_ ," Roll explained.

"YOSHA! LET'S HAVE OUR CAMPFIRE!" Luffy cheered.

"AYE!" the Straw Hats, minus X and Robin, cheered.

* * *

Kamakiri blinked a few times. He was still having trouble with it all. Before a roaring campfire in the middle of their enemy's territory, a group of Blue Sea Dwellers sent to them by a descendant of Montblanc Noland were dancing around it alongside their men and Cloud Wolves. Nearby, Nami and Laki were chatting while drinking something made by one of the female Cloud Wolves...which threw him for another loop since he never expected Cloud Wolves to be able to make drinks. And Calgara above help him in ignoring Wiper, Zoro, and the Beta of the pack trying to drink the other two under the stump they were using as a table.

"From the few weeks I've been with this crew, I have come to the conclusion that the strangest things will always happen around them," Kamakiri looked over at X as he sat down beside the Shandian with Robin.

"Have you figured a way to handle it?" Kamakiri asked.

"I just go along with it," X shrugged.

"Likewise. It's rather...refreshing to see something like this after dark times," Robin noted.

"..." Kamakiri looked out to see that Nami, Laki, and their new friend were flat out drunk on what the Cloud Wolf had made, all laughing and hugging each other with an arm or upper leg, more Cloud Wolves and Shandians cheering on the trio to keep drinking, or Aisa and some wolf cubs awing as Usopp told them tales of the Blue Sea, "..." he let a faint smile grace his mouth, "...Yeah."

"Have they tamed the Cloud Wolves as well?" Kamakiri tensed a bit as Gan Fall approached the trio, "I know of no others who could cause such an uproar on Enel's Land."

"Oh, you're awake. Are you sure you should be moving already?" Robin asked.

"Don't worry," Roll piped up as the three noticed her standing beside him, "If something happens, I'll be at the ready to treat him."

"Not just Cloud Wolves, but also befriending the Shandians," Gan Fall noted, a hint of a happy smile in his eyes.

"Why would you be happy about that?" Kamakiri scowled.

"Why wouldn't I be? Just look," Gan Fall motioned, "We have been at war with one another for 400 years now with Shandians attacking even the Blue Sea Dwellers that made their way up here. And yet now? Now you celebrate with Blue Sea Dwellers."

"...That's something I have been hoping to ask about. Gan Fall-san, what is your side of this tale? We have heard the Shandians' side of it, but not that of the Skypeians," X spoke.

"..." Gan Fall nodded as he sat down with Roll's help, "Do you know what we stand on? We call it 'vearth,' since it is capable of growing things from it, something clouds are incapable of performing. 400 years ago, this land came from the Blue Sea thanks to a Knock Up Stream."

"?!" Roll's eyes widened, "I...I was trying to figure out how this half of Jaya got up here...but a Knock Up Stream?"

"It is not the first time a landmass from the Blue Sea reached the White-White Sea thanks to it, but _this_ much? It was unheard of," Gan Fall continued, "When it happened, the leader of the Skypeians, our 'God,' declared it holy land and forced the Shandians from it. But by doing so, we've caused a great war to erupt from it; one that has lasted for far too long."

"...So Enel is the current 'God?'" Robin asked.

"No," Kamakiri spoke up as he gave a look at Gan Fall, "He stole it from Gan Fall six years ago."

"? So you are the real leader of the Skypeians then, Knight-san?" Robin asked.

"...Yes," Gan Fall nodded, "I had every intention on ending this pointless war once and for all but before I could…" he slammed a fist on the trunk they were on and Roll let out a squeak when the bark crumpled under the impact, "Enel's Avatar appeared and dethroned me."

"...How would you end the war?" X asked.

"By returning what was not ours to begin with," Gan Fall replied.

"?!" Kamakiri's eyes widened before running off, grabbing Aisa, and ran back over.

"Hey! Kamakiri, what gives?!" Aisa whined, "Master Gunner Usopp-san was telling us about these two Giants he met!"

"Say that again," Kamakiri ordered, looking directly at Gan Fall.

"...I want to end the war between Shandians and Skypeians by returning this land back to you and your people. This was never our land and while I know that what we've done to you and the other Shandians for all these centuries will never be truly forgiven, I hope it would be the start of trying to make new bridges not made upon blood and war, but on peace and finally understanding one another."

"Aisa…" Kamakiri looked down at the girl...who was crying.

"H...He's telling the truth…" Aisa sniffled, "He...He wants to give us back this place."

"I...I see…" Kamakiri nearly dropped her in shock.

"I have been truly a bother," Gan Fall sighed.

"Eh? That's not true at all, sir," Roll argued, "If you hadn't been there, Merry would be in a worse condition!" she froze, "Ah…"

"What's wrong?" X asked.

"I never checked to see if there was any damage to the keel from when that lobster dropped us on the altar…" Roll paled.

"?!" X's eyes widened before, just a second later, he had a startled Usopp in arm as he and Roll ran off towards Merry.

* * *

"Oi, oi, oi, oi, oiiiiiiii!-!-!-!" Usopp screamed as the two robots skidded to a halt across from the altar, "X! What the hell?! I was in the middle of telling them about how we met Chopper!"

"Gomen, Usopp-san," X apologized, "But Merry takes a priority."

"Merry?!" Usopp gasped, "What's wrong?"

"We have to check her keel _pronto_!" Roll replied before spotting a pile of lumber, "Usopp?"

"Ah! I was going to head over to do repair work on Merry when Zoro told me food was ready," Usopp explained quickly before X picked up the entire pile.

"Let's hurry," X ordered.

"Right!" the two nodded.

Several minutes passed until the three were all on Merry with the wood set up beside Merry on the altar. In the Men's Quarters, X carefully extracted the baseboard directly over the keel and he and Usopp looked inside. X's gem began to glow and acted as a flashlight for the two. After a few moments of searching, the two sighed in relief.

"Roll, our side of the keel is intact," X contacted her.

In the Women's Quarters, Roll looked at the keel before speaking into her comm, "My side's safe, too." she collapsed to her knees, "Oh...Oh thank Kami-sama above for her mercy…"

=Roll?= Usopp pondered.

"Caravel class ships like Merry are one of the few ships designed for sea travel that can also travel inland via rivers. Due to their lightness, caravels are faster and agiler than many of the bigger ships. As such, merchants favor them highly despite their low cargo hold," Roll explained, "But they're fragile vessels that can't take as much as other ships. But...But I'm so glad that Merry's intact so f…"

 ***tap***

"?!" X and Usopp froze as Roll opened the emergency exit to their room from the Women's Quarters.

"You…" Roll began before X held a hand up and quickly made some hand signs.

'We heard it,' X signed.

 ***tap***

Usopp, catching on, made his own, 'What should we do?'

'I'll go out first. Usopp, keep your slingshot at the ready to snipe,' X ordered, 'Roll, be ready with your broom if a fight starts.'

The two nodded with the sniper giving a nervous gulp. Roll pulled out her broom as she went into the Women's Quarters as Usopp pulled out his slingshot. X and Usopp nodded before X climbed up first. Slowly opening the trapdoor on the deck, X quietly got out and looked around. He didn't see anything, but…

 ***TAP***

X looked over towards the starboard side. Making his way over as quietly as he could, X prepared his arm to switch to the X Buster. At the trapdoor, Usopp poked his head out before Roll came out of the other trapdoor on the deck, broom in hand and Axe Dial in hand. Eventually, X looked over the side of the caravel and blinked twice. Down on the altar, a little figure was at work, making repairs to Merry. Despite the fog, X could make out the basic look of the little figure. No bigger than a child, they wore a soft-brown raincoat with bits of metallic material sewn on random spots. Underneath that was a big shirt that seemed to double as a child's playdress in a myriad of colors that seemed to be in a multitude of shades with rope wound around their wrists and ankles. They wore no hat, exposing a pure white head of messy white hair with actual ram horns growing on the top. But what X managed to see best were two very distinct things; metal braces on the neck and just below the chest area, looking as if they were the only things that were keeping the child-like figure together.

"May I ask what you're doing here?"

"?!" the figure jumped, sending the hammer into the air before bonking themself upside the head with it, "ITE!"

"Was that a child?" Roll gasped.

"A little kid here? But I thought we left Aisa at the party!" Usopp exclaimed while mentally sighing in relief, _'It's just a child. Oh thank God.'_

"Ugh…" the child groaned as the three were quick on getting down.

"What were you trying to do to Merry?" Usopp frowned, "She's a pirate ship above any other, you know?"

"O-Of course I know!" the child replied, quickly putting their hood over their head to hide their face, "I...I was trying to help fix her, you know!"

"Fix her?" Roll repeated as she knelt down only for the child to look away from her...exposing a rather interesting sight of a long nose, "...Usopp, do you have a kid?"

"WHAT?!" Usopp exclaimed.

"This kid has your nose," Roll informed before Usopp looked over her.

"...Huh!?" Usopp gawked at seeing the nose.

"I'm not his daughter!" the child barked, glaring at Roll and exposing her face to show a faint scar under her left eye that had a swirly eyebrow.

X blinked twice, "...Do you and Sanji-san have relatives up here, Usopp-san?"

"BITE ME!" Usopp barked, "And she doesn't have wings! She has horns, not wings!"

"?!" the child tensed as she scurried to grab her hammer, "G-Gomen nassai! I need to get back to work!"

"Huh? H-Hey! Wait a se…" Roll began before she gawked as the child easily lifted a stack of boards and ran around to the other side of the ship, "THE HECK?!"

"...Did her eyes seem...familiar?" X pondered.

"X, DO NOT SUGGEST CLONES!" Usopp barked.

"...Why did you go straight to clon…" Roll began to ask.

"Never drink East Blue Martinis that are offered in casinos in Alabasta," Usopp spoke quickly, blushing.

Roll raised a brow as X moved around Merry to see the girl starting to work once more. The computer that acted as his brain was running at peak efficiency to try to figure out who this child was. He needed more input, so he chose to walk over to the child.

"Would you like some help?"

"Gah!" the child yelped, sending the hammer once more into the air before X caught it, "...phew…" she looked up at X, "...It's a free sea."

X nodded as he gave her back the hammer. Opening a panel on his arm, he pulled out his own hammer and the two started to work. For X, it was a normal silence while for the child, it was more tense and awkward. After a few minutes, the child realized that Roll and Usopp were also working on the ship, getting the flying attachments removed.

"I didn't really mind the wings," Roll noted, "She looked cute with them."

"Stupid chicken thingies…" the child mumbled.

"Agreed," Usopp nodded as X and Roll held onto the broken wing as he got it fully off, "She's an adorable lamb, not a chicken." he adopted a small, reminiscing smile, "Just like her mistress."

"..." the child barely avoided missing the nail she was pounding into the board at that while X and Roll put the broken wing beside the other and the chicken pieces that had been on the figurehead.

"We're going to have to fill the holes from where the attachments were placed to avoid water getting into them and rotting her from the inside out," X noted, seeing the child give a shudder at that.

"I'll go see if we have the right paint for her head," Roll noted as she climbed onto the deck.

As more time passed, the child was getting increasingly tensed as they were finishing up fixing Merry. Usopp smiled as he looked at the ship. Aside from the metal plates on various parts, it was almost as if he was looking at her the day she was given to the crew when he joined.

"There's rust on that panel," X noted, pointing at the lone metal plate underneath Merry.

"Ah, seriously?" Usopp frowned, "Well, lucky for us this cloud can let us get under her to replace it."

"I'll get a sheet from the storage," Roll offered as she ran off and climbed back onto the ship.

"..." the child started to shiver.

"Okay! While Roll's getting the sheet, let's get this place off," Usopp noted.

"Roger," X nodded as he approached the plating.

"I forgot that's been on there since Little Garden," Usopp noted, "We actually flew for the first time thanks to Dorry and Broggy!" he looked to see the child grabbing one arm with the other hand as she was shaking more, "Huh? Are you okay? It's not too cold out here, is it?"

"...d…"

"Hm?" Usopp bent down.

"I got the sheet!" Roll called.

"Thank you," X nodded before grabbing the sheet.

"DON'T TOUCH THAT OR YOU'LL BREAK ME!" the child shouted.

"GAH!" Usopp yelped as he jumped back while X turned around to look at the child, who covered her mouth with wide eyes that reminded Roll of Chopper when he was startled or frightened, "She sounded like Nami-san and Roll-chan when they're livid!"

"HEY!" Roll barked.

"SEE?!" Usopp pointed at Roll while looking at X, "...Wait a second…" he looked at the shaking child, "How would taking that off break you?"

"Because she's Merry," X replied.

"...Wh-What?" Roll paled as she and Usopp looked at X, the little girl's face turning as white as the majority of her hair.

"H-How…?" the child squeaked out.

"Too many traits resembling all the members of the crew, though the way you walked seemed more refined akin to how royalty moves than the way any of us walk," X noted.

"?! Vivi…" Usopp whispered.

"I've also been paying attention to your raincoat," X added as a shivering Roll looked at the raincoat, which had significantly less metallic fabrics on it than it did before, "It changed every time we repaired something on the ship's exterior."

"X...Y-y-y-y-you're not s-s-s-s-saying what I think you're s-s-s-s-s-saying, a-a-a-are you?" Roll whimpered.

"..." the child groaned, tears welling in her eyes as she gave a sad, pain-filled smile, "I should've guessed you'd figure it out…"

"Wh-wh-WHAT?! M-MERRY!? HOW?!" Usopp exclaimed in shock as Roll collapsed, her eyes blank in fright and her mouth filled with foam.

 _'Does not compute. Does not compute. Ghosts do not exist. Science does not agree. Does not compute. Does not compute,'_ Roll thought repeatedly.

"Are you some sort of Artificial Intelligence?" X pondered.

"N...No," the child, _Merry_ , shook her head, "I…" she inhaled shakingly, "I'm a Klabautermann."

"A what?" Usopp blinked twice.

"It's German for 'Ship's Kobold,'" X translated.

"What's German?!" Usopp gawked.

"It…" Roll gulped as she wearily got off the ship and hid behind Usopp, "It's said that they're the ghost of a ship that's well-loved."

"E-Eh? Well, of course! She's our nakama! A member of the crew!" Usopp replied, "This is amazing, Merry! We can…"

"Despair," Usopp froze at Merry's word.

"...Eh?"

"A...A ship only gets one w...when we're...when we're…" Merry sniffled as her tears started to fall, "...When we're on our last legs…"

"B-But Merry! Y...Your Keel's…"

"Broken."

"?!" Usopp and Roll's eyes widened.

"...That metal plate is hiding the exterior break," X stated.

"Y-Yes…" Merry hiccuped, trying to stop crying, "I...I think I only have a few more islands left in me…"

"N-No! This...This can't be!" Usopp collapsed to his knees, "Merry...Y-You're up in the sky! You flew all the way up here! You can't be…" he shook as his own tears began to fall, "YOU JUST CAN'T BE DYING!-!-!-!"

"IT'S TRUE!" Merry snapped, glaring at Usopp, "IT'S TRUE, OKAY!? I'M A CARAVEL, USOPP! I'M MEANT FOR MERCHANT TRAVEL! I…" she hugged herself as she choked back a sob, "I'm not _meant_ for the Grand Line's insane nature." she looked at her bare feet, "The insane weather at the start nearly made the crack happen. When you put that metal plate on me, I thought...I thought it'd be okay...but...but then…"

"Bellamy…" Roll gasped.

"...The Knock-Up Stream," Usopp paled.

"It...It was both those things. When he hit me, my keel nearly snapped then and there," Merry nodded, "B...But the Knock-Up Stream…When it blew up...it...it's point of explosion hit me right on the sheet and the force..." she turned around and lifted her jacket, showing the area around where the metal band was on her back was stained red from a blood-like sap, "...Did this…"

"O...Oh god…" Usopp held a hand over his mouth.

"Kami-sama above…" Roll whispered before she was before Merry's back and looked at it closer, "...It...It _is_ broken. If she doesn't keep that on her, it will only get worse."

"N-No…" Usopp croaked as Merry lowered her raincoat, "M-Merry, I...I…"

"It's my fault," Merry interrupted.

"?!"

"I...I was the one who dreamed," Merry sniffled, "I believed th-that I could s-sail everyone t-to th-the One Piece…" she rubbed her eyes, trying to stop crying, "B-But this sea...it...the Grand Line...I...I just…"

"Oh, Merry…" Usopp whispered, tears falling like waterfalls, "Y-You don't have anything to be ashamed of! If-If anything... _I'm_ the one to blame!" Merry looked at him with wide eyes, "I'm not a carpenter or a shipwright! All I can do is tiny repairs and nothing really that complex! Kaya...She gave you to us, and...and it was supposed to be my responsibility to make sure you were okay!"

"I think we're intruding on a private conversation now," Roll whispered.

X didn't give a reply. Roll looked to see he was already swinging across to shore. She frowned before quickly grabbing the second of three vines they had used to swing over to the ship and swung over to shore. The two walked off to let the two talk (keyword 'sob') things out.

* * *

"So the idiot was so enraged he didn't realize he was in the Ordeal of Iron until he was dead," Shura noted as he and Ohm stood before a pair of decorative gates with a tall man wearing a purple suit with his black hair set up in the shape of multiple horns and a constantly stern expression, "Oi...Oi! Isn't it a little difficult to speak when you have your mouth clenched up like that?"

"!-!-!" the stern expression gave way to a completely shocked one, complete with bulging eyes and dropped jaw.

"It doesn't matter," Ohm stated before trio began to start fighting one another...just before the doors opened and let someone walk out.

"...Not again…" a very large, obese man sighed, his long hair parted down the middle and put into braids shaking in time with his head shaking in exasperation, "WHAT ARE YOU THREE DOING?!" he sighed once more, bending a bit in his white and orange toga, "...Hopeless, just hopeless…"

"SHUT UP!-!-!" Shura barked as they entered, "These two keep pulling me down! That's why I can't unleash my potential! If you're the boss of this place, let me work alone; It'll be a lot more efficient!"

"You are quite full of yourself, aren't you, Shura…?" Ohm scowled as his sword emerged from its handle, "I will make you realize how important you really are with my sorrowful path to the truth, The Trial of Iron!-!"

"How dull…" the third recovered, crossing his arms downwards with his pointer and index fingers extended, "Your trials are unworthy of mention! Want to experience my ultimate Trial of Swamp?"

"Gedatsu-sama! Your arms will tire in that position!-!" a winged man with his head covered in long black hair and a black beard called, the light breeze moving his robes, "If you want to cross your arms, your hands should be underneath your arms."

"!-!-!" Gedatsu froze in his pose, his face once more in its shocked expression.

"ENOUGH OF THIS NONSENSE!" the fat man roared, "DON'T FORGET THAT THIS IS WHERE GOD RESIDES!-!-!"

"Where God resides?" Shura repeated, "Tch. Right. All we've ever seen is his Avatar. Speaking of, where is his 'Avatar?'"

 _"CHANCE!-!"_

The trio tensed. That was all they could do before a blast of lightning struck them all, causing them to cry out in agony. The lightning shot off from them, letting them collapsed to their knees while smoke wafted off their burnt forms. The lightning reformed atop an elegant throne before transforming into a human right before their eyes. The human had skin as dark as the pure night sky (as in without any light pollution) with lightning bolt-shaped marks under his eyes. His upper body was completely exposed, revealing the muscular frame he sported, while he wore a pair of elegant red baggy pants with purple bands on his ankles and a purple sash around his waist. Unlike all the winged men there, emerging from his back were metal spikes layered in sheets of metal and glass in a 'X' formation. The only thing he wore on his head was a pitch-black helmet with a crescent moon pair of horns on both sides of it while a diamond-cut gem was embedded in the center of the helmet. The man's eyes were dull and shadowed over, as if no one was there.

"Ware wa Kaminari no Abatādesu (A/N: This can mean 'I am the Avatar of Lightning' or 'I am the Avatar of God.')," the man informed, "I am right here as is God." he pointed at the three, "You need more Training. That was a pitiful display of your skills of Mantra. God does not desire any more failures akin to that which befell Satori."

"W...What was that for?" Gedatsu grunted.

"Indeed," Ohm agreed, "Making light sport of us…"

"Is that why we were summoned here?" Shura asked.

"God was bored," the Avatar replied as he played catch with an apple, "Yehahahahaha. But, sit down for now. You three do not seem preoccupied by the Blue Sea Dwellers, even though the one in all blue ruined your Ordeal of Iron's reputation of a perfect fatality rate, Ohm."

"..." Ohm grit his teeth while gripping his blade's handle tighter, "That attack...it was unlike anything previous Blue Sea Dwellers have used…"

"Avatar-sama, if this is about Satori…" Gedatsu spoke up, "He was inexperienced!"

"Hmph. With that absurd Trial of Balls…" Shura snorted as the three walked up and knelt to the throne.

"And that is why I call you all pitiful, Shura," God's Avatar snorted, "Gan Fall is still alive."

"?!"

"The two you left him near were healers," he went on, "Yet he has not fully recovered. Furthermore...it seems he and the Shandians are getting along thanks to the Blue Sea Dwellers." he chuckled, "A rather tenacious old man indeed."

"But what could those Blue Sea Dwellers want?" Shura questioned.

"What they want…" the Avatar caught the apple, "...is gold."

"Gold?" Gedatsu repeated.

"How did they learn of that?" Ohm scowled.

"This island used to reside on the Blue Sea," the Avatar explained, rubbing the apple in his hands, "It's not that unusual that they should know about it." he proceeded to start eating it, "As such, they will move tomorrow working with the Shandians. Here on Upper Yard, you each have your own area to govern and there is a rule stating that you do not interfere with each other." he smirked in-between a bite, "As such, God has declared that he will allow all of Upper Yard to be your area."

"?!" the three looked at him more intently.

"You may put your Ordeal anywhere you wish," he continued, "And disregarding the rule, you may conduct yourselves as violent as you see fit."

"Why does God grant us so much power so suddenly?" Gedatsu narrowed his eyes.

"Because it's already been completed. The Maxim, that is," the Avatar smirked as he leaned towards them, "It's about time we finish off this island and set out on our journey...To the World of Dreams."

* * *

 **GammaTron: World of Dreams? …Why do I not like the sound of that from a bad guy? It always ends up as something far more horrible than what most followers of the villain expect. I hope none of you mind that I changed Merry's Klabautermann from just a transparent figure with a mouth to a little child with traits of all the crew members making up how she looks. I thought it would show how much a crew is reflected by their ship and considering that Caravel ships are so small, I thought her being a little girl would make sense.**


End file.
